The institutions that will refuse to provide information of public interest in the conditions and the terms set out by law will face administrative liability. A mechanism will be instituted to punish the institutions that will refuse to provide information or will offer incorrect, incomplete information or will make an unjustified referral. This is provided in a bill on access to information of public interest that was approved by the Cabinet on Wednesday, IPN reports.
“A clear notion of “information of public interest” will be introduced to define in general all the information possessed by information providers. The list of subjects that will be considered information providers will be extended. There will be more clearly regulated the legal reasons based on which, in particular defined situations, the access to public interest information can be limited. There will also be introduced specific bans when the access to particular information cannot be limited,” said Minister of Justice Veronica Mihailov-Moraru.
The bill regulates in detail the method of asking for information. The new provisions reduce the period during which a response to the request for information must be provided from 15 workdays at present to 15 calendar days (10 workdays). It is provided that if the information is available, it must be offered immediately, but not later than within 15 calendar days. The period could be extended by at most 10 calendar days if the request for information is complex or a large volume of information is requested and additional time is needed for processing it.
It will also be possible to obtain information based on a verbal request.
The bill introduces the term “pro-active transparency” that is the obligation for mayor’s offices, ministries and other public institutions to publish information of public interest on the official website, depending on the particularities of their activities. It goes to the organizational structure and budget of the public authority, the number of employees/members, data about the objectives, areas of competence and duties, postal addresses, phone number and other data of public authorities.
- Chisinau will ask for revision of Interpol’s refusal to list Plahotniuc as wanted
- Minister Popșoi discusses murder of Rabbi Zvi Kogan with his Israeli counterpart
- Maia Sandu at European Integration Forum: Priorities focus on three key areas
- Official exchange rate for date 26.11.2024
- Republic of Moldova will gradually introduce mandatory storage of petroleum products
