Draft Law on Free Access to Information endangers media and civil freedoms

Civil society organizations submitted to the BiH Ministry of Justice a request to withdraw from the procedure a Draft Law on Free Access to Information, since it is threatening to revoke the rights in the field of access to information and it is not in compliance with the international standards

Sarajevo/Banja Luka, 15th December 2016 — Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BiH) together with the group of organizations (Association of citizens Why not, Center for Investigative Reporting, Center for Social Research – Analitika, Public Interest Advocacy Center – CPI Foundation, Association „BH Journalists“ and Sarajevo Open Centre) sent a letter to the Ministry of Justice of BiH requesting to withdraw from the procedure Draft Law on Free Access to Information since its adoption would violate the media and civil freedoms.
A joint reaction emphasizes that the proposed Draft Law revokes the already acquired rights in the field of free access to information, instead to impracove the existing rights. TI BiH has previously sent its comments and proposals to the Ministry of Justice. Some of the most disputable and highly criticized solutions refer to the following:
• the proposed model of proactive transparency does not include all necessary categories of information and the methods of their announcement in the way it was proposed by the proactive transparency standard;

• public interest test has not been set as a general rule that applies to all exceptions and situations, so in this way the most significant accomplishment of the existing Law is being abolished;

• the introduction of the obligation for the person submitting a request for free access to information to indicate reasons for the request, which is the most direct violation of the right to freedom og opinion and expression;

• provided exceptions to the application of the rule on free access to information have not been clearly defined;

• new deadlines of additional 15 days to act upon request for free access to information could easily be abused in practice and reduce the efficiency of procedures for exercising the right to access to information.
Civil society organizations warned that the proposed solutions are not in compliance with the international standards in regard to the freedom of expression and access to information defined by the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which is why they invited the Ministry of Justice of BiH to return the Draft Law for revision and to consult all interested organizations and public during the new preparation of the Law, paying special attention to the international recommendations and following of the international conventions.

Press rls – 15.12.2016. eng