Access to Information Programme

United Nations Development Programme

Protocol from a workshop with municipal and regional administration officials responsible for the provision of public information

held in Razgrad on June 01, 2007 within the project Increasing Government Transparency and Accountability through Electronic Access financed by UNDP Democratic Governance Trust Fund (DGTF)

I. Purpose of the workshop:

Conducting a one-day discussion on active provision of information, particularly publication of information on institutional web sites, with local and regional government officials from the Regions of Razgrad, Russe, Silistra, and Targovishte.

II. Project performance/implementation issues addressed:

The following issues were discussed during the workshop:

1. Conditions for proper implementation of the Bulgarian Access to Public Information Act (APIA)
2. Weaknesses of Bulgarian legislation regarding access to information
3. Results from the assessments which Access to Information Programme Foundation (AIP) conducted in March 2006 and March 2007 of active information provision online by 411 public institutions (whether and how they publish public information on their web sites)
4. Results from the access to information part of the 2006 Report by the Minister of State Administration and Administrative Reform
5. Foreign legislation providing for electronic access to information (Hungary, Estonia, USA, Serbia) - publication schemes, list of categories of information subject to active publication
6. Problems with active provision of information, particularly publication on institutional web sites:
- lack of responsible information official within each administrative structure;
-unclear legal regulations regarding the publicity of mayor's decisions;
- lack of a description of the registries that the institutions keep.
7. Categories of information that shall be actively published on institutional web sites.
8. Right to Know Day and the awards categories were presented.

III. Follow-up and/or recommended actions:

On the bases of the discussion, the following recommendations were given by the participants in the workshop:

1. The establishment of an information official position or a department to be specified in the Access to Public Information Act;
2. Services and procedures for active publication of information on institutional web sites to be unified;
3. Not only mandatory information, but also information of public interest to be published on institutional web sites;
4. The following information to be actively provided on the institutional web sites:
- mayor's general scope decisions as opposed to decisions affecting specific individuals;
- short description of all registers and other information resources maintained by the respective institution
- register of all decisions, regulations, minutes, and other documents, adopted by the Municipal Council, including short annotation and the full text;
- APIA implementation reports which every institution send to the Ministry of State Administration and Administrative Reform;
5. A special access to information subsection to be created and maintained on institutional web sites;
6. Drafting of an Instruction by the Ministry of State Administration and Administrative Reform to the heads of the relevant administrations with a model of a web site will facilitate the active provision of information online.

Participants:

1. Krasimir Proinov - Junior Legal Officer, Municipality of Targovishte
2. Zeyneb Ademova - Head of Department "Administrative Services, Human Resources and Records Management", Municipality of Loznitsa
3. Anife Ali Hussein - Senior expert "Information Security" Department, Municipality of Dulovo
4. Hairie Ibrahim Ali - Senior expert "Information Services" Department, Municipality of Dulovo
5. Vanya Petrova - "Public Relations" Department, Municipality of Dulovo
6. Halime Topchieva - Ali - Senior Expert, "Records Management" Department, Municipality of Zavet
7. Aiten Bairam Dzhelil - Senior Expert "Public Relations" Department, Municipality of Glavinitsa
8. Deko Naidenov - Spokesperson, Razgrad Regional "Police" Department - Ministry of Interior
9. Vetko Vetkov - Senior Expert, "Public Relations" Department, Regional Governor's Administration - Razgrad
10. Giursel Ismail Ali - Head of Administration, Municipality of Samuil
11. Sofka Petrova Dimitrova - Senior Expert, web site maintenance, Municipality of Silistra
12. Galina Drumeva - Senior Expert "Information and Services" Department, Municipality of Silistra
13. Nikolay Nikolov - Junior Legal Officer, Municipality of Silistra
14. Milko Balkansky, Head of "Information and Administrative Services" Department, Municipality of Russe
15. Spasimir Dimitrov - "Information Security" Department, Municipality of Russe
16. Maria Naidenova - Senior specialist "Civil Registration and Administrative Services," Municipality of Tsenovo
17. Victor Vasilev - Junior Legal Officer, Municipality of Tsenovo
18. Georgi Milkov - Chairperson, Center for NGOs Razgrad
19. Gergana Jouleva, PhD, AIP executive director
20. Nikolay Marekov, Information Systems Coordinator, AIP
21. Diana Bancheva, Media Relations Coordinator, AIP
22. Kiril Terziiski, Legal Projects Coordinator, AIP
23. Stela Kovacheva, AIP Coordinator for Razgrad