A Draft Law Developed by the IJC to Facilitate Access to Information of Public Interest Shall Be Examined by the Parliament

The advocacy campaign of the Independent Journalism Center (IJC) for modifying the law on access to information, which was conducted last year, resulted in the development of a draft law that the IJC sent to the Parliament for examination. On Friday, March 11, the IJC’s draft was registered by a group of non-affiliated MPs and it is now going to be debated in the plenum. According to media law expert Tatiana Puiu, quick adoption of the new modifications is a necessity, and not a whim of the civil society.

The draft law was produced by IJC experts and discussed at a round table meeting with the participation of representatives of public institutions, NGOs, and media outlets, as well as experts in the field (photo). Journalists drew attention to the importance of access to information of public interest for citizens and to the need to obtain this information at the right time. They also underlined the fact that no one can be owner of information of public interest.

The draft law provides for modifying the procedure of registration of requests for access to information, reducing the term of presentation of information, and harshening penalties for violation of the legislation on access to information that are to be applied to persons responsible for presenting information.

In order to avoid wrong examination of requests for access to information under the law on petitioning, the authors of this draft law propose written requests for access to information to be registered in a special “Register of Requests for Access to Information.” Article 12 of the law on access to information shall be supplemented with a new sentence: “Written requests can also be made in electronic form.”

Officials will be obliged to reply to requests for information within 10 calendar days, and not within 15 working days, as it is stipulated by the current law. Media experts claim that in the EU Member States terms for provision of information vary, but they are usually shorter than in Moldova.

Another proposal is to modify article 71 of the Contraventions Code by harshening penalties for violation of legal provisions. Thus, violation of rules on access to information or on petitioning shall be penalized with a fine varying between 100 and 150 conventional units applied to individuals and between 300 and 400 conventional units applied to the responsible official. Presentation upon request of a reply with clearly wrong data shall be penalized with a fine between 400 and 500 conventional units applied to the responsible official.

According to media law expert Tatiana Puiu, these modifications need to be adopted urgently. “A quick adoption of the new modifications is a necessity, and not a whim of the civil society. Inconsistent practices, failure to comply with the terms set for provision of information of public interest are common problems. Introduction of clear penalties for failure to comply with rules on access to information is an important step in unblocking the mechanism of bringing dishonest officials to responsibility,” the expert commented for Media Azi.