The association's chairman Zorislav Antun Petrovic, said at a press conference that in case of the adoption of the bill, "democracy would be demoted to the level of the Early Middle Ages".
The association fears that the new act would make it possible for leaders of local self-government units to classify any public bid and all data possessed by the public administration.
Three weeks ago, the government sent to parliament the Data Confidentiality Bill under which classified information would no longer be designated as "state secret", "official secret" or "military secret" but as "very secret", "secret", "confidential" or "restricted".
The bill was already criticised by the nongovernmental organisation GONG, which believes that "if the bill is adopted, the Right of Access to Information Act will become a dead letter".