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 Sliven on November 16, 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 Sliven, Burgas, Stara Zagora, Yambol.

II. Project performance/implementation issues addressed:

The following issues were discussed during the workshop:
1. Weaknesses in the implementation of the Access to Public Information Act (APIA) with regard to active publication of information, particularly on institutional web sites.
2. Last amendments to the APIA, adopted in June 2007.
3. Recent litigation on access to information cases in Bulgaria.
4. 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).
5. Foreign legislation providing for electronic access to information (Hungary, Estonia, USA, Serbia, Russia) - publication schemes, list of categories of information subject to active publication.
6. Categories of information that shall be actively published on institutional web sites.
7. Presentation of the organization of the provision of information in electronic form and the publication of information on the Internet sites of the Municipality of Tunja and Municipality of Sliven.
8. The Right to Know Day initiative.

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. Active publication of information online would result in a decrease of the number of submitted information requests.
2. Services and procedures for active publication of information on institutional web sites to be unified.
3. 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 containing categories of information that shall be actively provided online, as well as the format in which information shall be made electronically available, to be drafted and adopted.
4. Increase in the volume of online available public information on the web sites of the institutions will result in an increase in the number of people using it.
5. Digital signature should not be required at the submission of an electronic access to information request. The APIA does not stipulate an obligation for the requestor to sign the written request – it has other obligatory requisites.

Participants:

1. Hristina Kostova Dimitrova-Teodosieva, Senior Legal Officer, Municipality of Kotel
2. Nikoleta Spasova Karadzhova, Regional Administration - Sliven
3. Jenia Ivanova Andonova – Junior Expert “Regional Development,” Regional Administration - Sliven
4. Veselina Stoyanova Tranova – Technical Assistant “Administrative and Information Services” Department, Municipality of Nova Zagora
5. Dimitar Todorov Kostov – Senior Expert “Administrative and Information Services” Department, Municipality of Nova Zagora
6. Nina Krasteva Terzieva – Municipality of Boliarovo
7. Veska Dimitrova Hristova – Municipality of Boliarovo
8. Mariana Zhekova – Public Relations Officer, Regional Administration – Sliven
9. Dimitar Milkov – Senior Expert “Information Technologies” Department, Regional Administration – Sliven
10. Tania Rangelova – Senior Expert “Public Relations and Access to Public Information” Department, Municipality of Sliven.
11. Georgiy Abraamyan – Head of “Information Technologies” Sector, Municipality of Sliven
12. Ivelina Prodanova – Public Relations Department, Regional Administration – Stara Zagora
13. Tanya Kirova Pachalieva – Senior Expert “Coordination and Administrative Control” Department, Regional Administration – Burgas
14. Filip Mitkov Filipov – Head of “Information Services and Technologies” Department, Municipality of Yambol
15. Yordanka Mincheva Valkova – Director of “Information Services and Civic Status” Department, Municipality of Yambol
16. Atanaska Dimitrova Hristova – Head of “Administrative and Legal Services” Department, Municipality of Straldza
17. Nikolay Dinkov Mihailov – Senior Expert “Investment Programs and Projects” Department, Municipality of Tundja
18. Konstantin Boichev Iliev – Manager, Data Milant Ltd
19. Yurii Ivanov, Chairman, Civil Association “Public Barometer”
20. Velika Vasileva – reporter, “Slivensko delo” newspaper
21. Dobrinka Ivanova – journalist, KTv “Telecabel”
22. Yordanka Radancheva – journalist, Radio Focus
23. Gergana Hristova – journalist, www.sliven-news.com
24. Gergana Jouleva, PhD, AIP Executive
25. Director Nikolay Marekov, Information Systems Coordinator, AIP
26. Diana Bancheva, Media Relations Coordinator, AIP
27. Kiril Terziiski, Legal Projects Coordinator, AIP
28. Ralitza Katzarska, Coordinator, AIP
29. Veselina Sedlarska, AIP Coordinator for Sliven
30. Diana Boncheva, AIP Coordinator for Yambol