Information newsletter
Issue 04(28), April 2006

Access to Information in Bulgaria 2005

Access to Information Programme presented its Annual Report Access to Information in Bulgaria 2005 on May 12, 2006. Journalists, clients, friends, and partners of AIP attended the conference held at the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency.

What were the changes in FOI legislation and practices in Bulgaria in 2005? What were the characteristics of the cases that Access to Information Programme received for legal help? Did state institutions and local government bodies fulfill their legal obligations to publish information on their Internet sites? What type of information did citizens seek? What were the most interesting developments in the FOI court practices in 2005?

You will find answers to all of these questions, as well as detailed analysis of the related issues, in the annual report of AIP Access to Information in Bulgaria 2005.

Analyses of access to information legislation and practices have given grounds to draw of conclusions and formulate of recommendations to the legislative and executive powers. Some of these are:

In 2005, the amendments to the legislation, providing for the right of access to information and its exemptions, were piecemeal, inconsistent, and frequently conflicting with the basic principles defining that right. The implementation practices, including the court practices, require a serious reconsideration of the existing Access to Public Information Act. The amendments should be in compliance with the international standards, as well as with the practices of information seeking in Bulgaria.

The monitoring of the practices of active disclosure of information in 2005 showed some basic weaknesses related to the fulfilment of the obligation for the publication of information, including on the Internet sites of the institutions in Bulgaria.
There is a strong need for the increase of accessibility of information of public interest, like access to contracts between the state and the municipality and private companies, and access to public registers.

The information provision practices show the necessity for more active policy in regards to building the capacity of the administration and establishing a mechanism for the effective implementation of the Access to Public Information Act.

You can find the English version of the report on the AIP web site: http://www.aip-bg.org/pdf/report2005-en.pdf