Research presented on implementation of freedom of information laws in BiH

A new online tool for automatically generating freedom of information requests for citizens was also presented.

TI BiH Executive Director Ivana Korajlic said the research was conducted with partner organisation Vasa prava and that after several years they had seen some progress, at least in terms of the deadlines within which institutions respond to freedom of information requests.

''For years, the percentage was around 50 percent, meaning that only half of the institutions responded to freedom of information requests within the legally prescribed deadline. This year, in the sample we examined, we saw an improvement of around 10 percentage points, which is the biggest improvement we have seen so far. However, we are seeing negative trends in Republika Srpska, where only 10 percent of the institutions included in the research responded to requests within the legally prescribed deadline,'' Korajlic said.

She added that a large percentage of institutions still formally respond to requests but fail to provide all the information requested, particularly when it comes to major projects of strategic importance that are of significant public interest.

However, she said institutions continued to refuse requests, particularly when they involved large amounts of money, infrastructure projects and similar matters.

She said it was particularly concerning that institutions, especially governments at the state and entity levels, showed no willingness to improve the legal framework in a way that would ensure better protection and greater transparency.

Gaëlle Nizery, Head of Operations I – Good Governance at the Delegation of the European Union to Bosnia and Herzegovina, said access to information was a fundamental right and a cornerstone of democratic governance, transparency and accountability.

She added that the European Union had long been a partner in supporting reforms aimed at improving transparency, accountability and good governance in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

According to Nizery, free access to information is one of the key tools enabling citizens to actively engage and participate in decision-making processes.

"While the Brčko District has made some progress by adopting a new Freedom of Access to Information Law, with the participation of civil society organisations including Transparency International Bosnia and Herzegovina, inconsistencies in the implementation of the laws at the entity and state levels remain an issue that needs to be addressed," Nizery said.

Bosnia and Herzegovina Human Rights Ombudswoman Jasminka Dzumhur highlighted two key issues concerning freedom of access to information.

"The first is the inability, or limited capacity, of the competent authorities to process requests when the information contains personal data, commercial interests or another aspect that is legally defined as an exception to disclosure. The mere presence of such information in the requested material is automatically used as an argument to reject the request without conducting a public interest test," she said.

She stressed that information is a public good, belonging to all citizens, and that the authority managing such information is obliged to decide on a request while always bearing in mind that it is not the owner of the information, but that the citizens are.

She said the second important issue concerned legal remedies. She noted that there are now fundamentally different arrangements in the entities and at the state level, where a second-instance body has been established that is not independent in accordance with European standards.