Centre for Civic Education (CCE) has published a Guide for Obligors of the Free Access to Information Law, intended for civil servants and employees as an aid in efficiently collectioning, processing, and providing information held within the institutions they work for, while fulfilling legal obligations. The authors are Mira Popović Trstenjak and Itana Gogić.
Free access to information is one of the mechanisms that significantly impacts good governance, ensuring transparency and accountability of public administration. This right allows citizens access to information of public importance while simultaneously empowering public sector bodies to act openly and responsibly. Institutional transparency builds trust between the public and the state, thereby strengthening societal functionality and the democratic order.
Free access to information enables active monitoring of public policies and the application of laws by various stakeholders, contributing to better awareness of issues of public interest and promoting new ideas for the democratization of society. This should be a common goal for both the users and the obligors of the Law on Free Access to Information.
CCE assesses that this set of detailed explanations and instructions can be useful to the obligors of the Free Access to Information Law, whether they already possess certain knowledge of the system that they wish to improve or are just becoming acquainted with these procedures.
The guide is informational. The first part explains basic terms and the legal framework for handling free access to information, while the second part details the steps that obligors need to take to properly handle requests for free access to information.
The guide was created as part of the project “Transparent Authorities – Informed Citizens,” implemented by the CCE with financial support from the Ministry of Public Administration. The content of the guide is the sole responsibility of the authors and CCE.
Itana Gogić, Project Assistant