The Committee on Political System, Judiciary and Administration unanimously accepted today the amendment by PES MP Vasilije Čarapić to the Draft Law on Free Access to Information (FOI) to bear its own costs in the administrative dispute initiated due to the silence of state bodies and institutions upon requests for data from citizens and the civil sector.
This amendment was previously accepted by representatives of the Ministry of Public Administration, which is the proponent of this regulation.
Čarapić previously reformulated the first proposal, which implied that the costs of the proceedings initiated due to the state's silence would be borne by those who initiated the dispute. The PES MP claims that he proposed the changes because "the SPI is being abused in practice and the state is suffering serious financial consequences on this basis." Both variants are unacceptable to experts, as well as the civil sector.
Expert in personal data protection and free access to information Radenko Lacmanović told "Vijesti" that this change to the amendment, after public pressure, is "maximum stimulating for law enforcement or state and local authorities that should act on requests for free access to information."
"If we have had a situation so far where those obliged to the law, under threat of bearing the costs of the procedure, do not submit the requested information within the stipulated deadline, you can imagine what will happen when they do not have that threat. It will be very inspiring for them to do exactly the opposite, to violate the provisions and deadlines and thus fill the state budget," Lacmanović assessed.
According to him, the parties are being brought into the proceedings completely unequally, because even if they win the dispute before the competent court, they will "probably have to pay lawsuits or legal fees, which will be minimal for the state."
Almost 60 civil society organizations and activists yesterday called on the Government and Parliament of Montenegro not to adopt an amendment to the Draft Law on Free Access to Information (FOI), which, they claim, would in practice render meaningless the judicial protection of this right, as well as the work of the media and NGOs.
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