06 May 2011, 14:58
Chairman of the Committee on Freedom of Speech and Information Andrii Shevchenko reminded that The Verkhovna Rada adopted the Law "On Access to the Public Information" on January 13, 2011.
A. Shevchenko believes that it is rather symbolic that both laws are coming into force on May, 9. "It will be the day of important victory in the fight for civil rights in Ukraine, but sabotage of officials may spoil this achievement. We have to make this law work to return the power to the citizens," stated the Committee Chairman.
According to A. Shevchenko, all information accessible to the officials should a priori be accessible to any citizen. He drew attention to several exceptions in the law which restrict citizens´ access to the public information, namely, classified, sensitive and insider information.
Project coordinator of the Civic Campaign New Citizen Svitlana Zalishchuk stressed that the law might not work, unless the public implement the law and monitor its observance by the public authorities.
S. Zalishchuk informed that the first request would be sent to 457 towns next week. It concerns the method used by the local self-government bodies to calculate the tariff for the maintenance of residential houses, house premises, and territories. She believes that it is an easy test for the local authorities, as such information is not public in most towns.
Project coordinator of the Ukrainian Independent Center for Political Research Maksym Latsyba informed that information requests should be satisfied not only by public authorities, but also by other administrators, namely, state-financed legal entities (e.g. public utility enterprises) and business entities dominating the market.
The project coordinator also reminded of another poorly discussed civil right the right to be present at the sittings of the public authorities, except for the cases determined in the law.
Committee Chairman A. Shevchenko informed about the intention of the Committee on Freedom of Speech and Information to hold regional public presentations of both law, and prepare a theoretical and practical commentary on the law to help the journalists, public activists, officials and politicians to apply it properly.