Advances in transparency and right to access information in the Czech Republic - evolution of the interpretation of contested statutory provisions

Janderová, Jana (author)

Purpose: The article examines the advances in the transparency of the Czech public administration since the 1990s. Transparency is subtly intertwined with accountability, promotes democracy, and helps to prevent misuse of power or other types of illegal acting. Thus, the right to access information must be interpreted broadly enough, yet there are other rights such as privacy or trade secrets which must be respected at the same time. The paper therefore explains the balance between those rights that has been achieved through years of court interpretation. It explores the advances in the courts’ views and the resulting improvements in the administrative practice, as well as the relationship between the right to information and accountability. Design/methodology/approach: The author studies the crucial provisions of the Act on Free Access to Information. Based on an analysis of the interpretation by the Czech Supreme Administrative Court and the Czech Constitutional Court of the most questionable issues – such as the determination of which public institutions are considered obliged entities, the exemptions from the duty to provide information, remedies, and payments for complicated data searches – the paper shows the developments over the past 23 years. The paper also seeks to identify the relationship between the outcomes of the analysis, i.e. the confirmed advances, and the accountability od administrative bodies which should theoretically result therefrom. Findings: The case law on the interpretation of individual legal provisions is rather favourable to a broad access to information, restricting the exemptions and other obstacles. However, the article argues that in order to take full advantage of the gains in the area of free access to information brought about by the carefully argued case law and subsequent improvements of the obliged entities approach, the resulting accountability still needs to be elaborated. Academic contribution to the field: The research contributes to administrative science by addressing the practical application of laws on transparency issues. It shows the importance of court support to an interpretation broad enough to balance other rights, such as the right to privacy. It provides a background for further research of the consequences, i.e., accountability. Originality/significance/value: An overview of the evolution of court decisions interpreting controversial legal provisions is provided. The gaps between the advances in the implementation of the principle of transparency and the theoretically resulting accountability are identified.

• Language: English
• Keywords: access to information, good governance, human rights, openness, transparency, rule of law
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FU - Faculty of Administration
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2022
• Number of pages: Str. 101-122, 193-194
• Numbering: Vol. 20, no. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-143426
• UDC: 35:34:342.7
• ISSN on article: 2591-2240
• DOI: 10.17573/cepar.2022.2.05
• COBISS.SI-ID: 132363779
• Publication date in RUL: 20.12.2022

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Central European public administration review
• Publisher: Fakulteta za upravo
• ISSN: 2591-2240
• COBISS.SI-ID: 293849600

Licences

• License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
• Description: The most restrictive Creative Commons license. This only allows people to download and share the work for no commercial gain and for no other purposes.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Napredek na področju preglednosti in pravice do dostopa do informacij na Češkem – razvoj v razlagi spornih zakonskih določb

Abstract

Namen: Članek obravnava razvoj preglednosti v okviru češke javne uprave od devetdesetih let prejšnjega stoletja dalje. Preglednost, ki je subtilno prepletena z odgovornostjo, spodbuja demokracijo in prispeva k preprečevanju zlorab ali drugih oblik nezakonitega ravnanja s strani oblasti. Pravico do dostopa do informacij je treba zato razlagati dovolj široko, hkrati pa je treba spoštovati tudi druge pravice, kot sta zasebnost ali poslovna skrivnost. Članek pojasnjuje ravnovesje med omenjenimi pravicami, doseženo skozi dolgoletno sodno prakso, analizira napredek v stališčih sodišč in posledične izboljšave v upravni praksi ter proučuje razmerje med pravico do obveščenosti in odgovornostjo. Zasnova/metodologija/pristop: Avtorica proučuje ključne določbe Zakona o prostem dostopu do informacij. Na podlagi analize razlag češkega vrhovnega upravnega sodišča in češkega ustavnega sodišča glede najbolj spornih vprašanj – npr. katere javne institucije so zavezanci, izjeme od obveznosti posredovanja informacij, pravna sredstva in plačila za zapleteno iskanje podatkov – članek prikazuje razvoj v zadnjih 23 letih ter opredeljuje povezavo med rezultati analize, tj. potrjenim napredkom, in odgovornostjo upravnih organov, ki naj bi, teoretično, iz njega izhajala. Ugotovitve: Sodna praksa glede razlage posameznih zakonskih določb je precej naklonjena širokemu dostopu do informacij ter omejuje izjeme in druge ovire. Vendar pa avtorica ugotavlja, da je za poln izkoristek vseh pridobitev na področju prostega dostopa do informacij, ki jih je prinesla skrbno argumentirana sodna praksa in poznejše izboljšave pristopa z zavezanci, pozornost treba posvetiti tudi posledični odgovornosti. Akademski prispevek k znanstvenem področju: Študija z obravnavo praktične uporabe zakonov na področju preglednosti prispeva k upravni znanosti ter prikazuje pomen dovolj široke razlage pravice do dostopa do informacij, da lahko uravnoteži druge pravice, kot je npr. pravica do zasebnosti. Prispevek s tem zagotavlja izhodišče za nadaljnje raziskave posledične odgovornosti. Izvirnost/pomen/vrednost: Članek ponuja pregled razvoja sodne prakse glede razlage spornih zakonskih določb. Opredeljene so vrzeli med napredkom pri izvajanju načela preglednosti in iz njega (teoretično) izhajajoče odgovornosti.

• Keywords: dostop do informacij, dobro upravljanje, človekove pravice, odprtost, preglednost, pravna država

Projects

• Funder: Other - Other funder or multiple funders
• Funding programme: Student Grant Competition of University of Pardubice
• Project number: SGS_2022_017