Information newsletter
Issue 3(15), March 2005

Monitoring Access to Information in Practice : The Authorities use the Access to Public Information Act in order to hide Information
Zarko Marinov, editor of “Otzvuk” newspaper, Smolian

- Mr. Marinov, how many requests under the Access to Public Information Act (APIA) have you submitted so far?

- There are more than twenty requests. The answers vary, but most of them are unsatisfactory. They contain information I do not need though the requests state straightforwardly what information I expect to receive. The local institutions are trying to trick us by providing formal answers, without giving the requested information. For example, we asked the Smolian Municipality about the type and value of the current public procurements, as well as information about the executers. We checked whether the information was present at the Register of Public Procurements and it turned out that there was no such information there. Eventually, it came out that the information that should be available to the public had not been registered at all.

- Have you started court proceedings against any state institution for information refusal under APIA?

- I have not initiated any legal proceedings because of the characteristics of a small town like Smolian. The authorities do not consider the right of access to information as an issue of principle that is ruled by law, but as a personal offence against a particular official or even as a political attack from the newspaper that I publish. That is why I have not filed any cases under APIA in the court so far.

- What are your intentions for future work with the institutions? Do you consider the possibility that “you ask, they keep silence”?

- The newspaper has found a way to work with the authorities. We find a person from the respective institution who could give us the information we need through private channels. We could sue the officials who deny information but the complexity of the case that would arise from a practical point of view keeps us from doing it. We requested information from the District Governance Administration, from the Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Waters, from the Hygienic Epidemiological Institute, and other institutions obliged under the APIA with offices in Smolian. They dismiss the request on the grounds that the respective Minister is obliged to disclose particular information. In our experience, this has occurred frequently. If the minister responds to the request and the information is not satisfactory, I have to file a suit against him in Sofia. This will take a lot of time. The court hearings might continue even after the end of his term. You understand that the proceedings are a great waste of energy and money. That is why we prefer the above-mentioned informal way of obtaining information.

- What is necessary in order for the habits of the institutions towards the citizens, who submit requests, to be changed?

- I think that the local administration should be directly obliged under the law. The practice of shifting the responsibility to the respective ministry or to the central office in the capital should be brought to an end. The local authorities should be obliged to provide all the information that is requested under the APIA. The current provisions of the law allow the obliged authorities to hide information by shifting responsibility and through bureaucratic tricks.

The interview was taken by Valentin Hadzhiev, AIP coordinator, Smolian