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Public bodies in Croatia increasingly respecting right of access to information - NGO

ZAGREB, Sept 28 (Hina) - Public bodies in Croatia are more and more respecting the right of access to information and their results are good when compared to those in Moldavia, Kirgizstan and Burundi, but not when compared to Western European countries, representatives of Transparency International Croatia (TIH) said in Zagreb on Thursday, on the occasion of International Right-to-Know Day, September 28.
ZAGREB, Sept 28 (Hina) - Public bodies in Croatia are more and more respecting the right of access to information and their results are good when compared to those in Moldavia, Kirgizstan and Burundi, but not when compared to Western European countries, representatives of Transparency International Croatia (TIH) said in Zagreb on Thursday, on the occasion of International Right-to-Know Day, September 28.

For the third year in a row TIH sent requests for information to 200 bodies, including the government, ministries, courts, and county and town authorities, expecting their answers within the legal deadline of 15 days. This year, significant progress was recorded because 70.5% of requests were answered, which is 13% more than last year and 21% more than in 2004.

"This is significant progress, but one should underline that our requests were benign and we did not seek information regarding, for example, the Brodosplit affair or the replacement of the Delnice Municipal Court president," TIH president Zorislav Antun Petrovic said.

Of the 200 approached bodies of authority, 62.5% responded within the legal deadline, and the greatest progress was made by the ministries which last year answered less than 50% of requests. This year, the response was 96%, and the most efficient were the ministries of the interior and defence.

The response of courts jumped from last year's 57.5% to 78%.

Having answered 58% of requests, counties improved their results by only two percent, with Varazdin and Karlovac counties being the most efficient.

Town authorities answered only 50% of requests, the same as last year, the exception being Crikvenica, which sent the answer in only two days.

Koprivnica-Krizevci, Bjelovar-Bilogora and Vukovar counties did not send answers at all, while the Vukovar Municipal Court said that it could not answer the request because the signature on the TIH letter was illegible.

TIH, an NGO fighting corruption, said that it would not sue the bodies which did not answer their requests because the purpose of their survey was not to punish anyone, but to monitor the situation and encourage relevant institutions to abide by the Law on the Right of Access to Information, which went into force in October 2003.

The main problem in exercising the right of access to information is insufficiently trained staff and lack of legislation that would make it possible to appoint a commissioner for access to information, Petrovic said, adding that he hoped that a bill on that matter, drawn up by the Social Democratic Party, would soon be sent to parliament.

Next time TIH will ask more demanding questions, Petrovic said, voicing hope that next year public bodies would answer more than 90% of requests, which is the average in Western European countries.

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