Upon initiative of the Information Commissioner of the Slovenian Republic, the 20 of October 2020 it has been held a founding conference of the Association “2020 Initiative”, which connect the appellate bodies in the area of access to public information of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo y northern Macedonia.
The aim of the association is to cooperate and exchange the good practices on the promotion and protection of the access right to public information. A similar initiative as a part of “2017 Initiative” has already worked in the field of personal data protection.
During the meeting, which took place in videoconferencing given the current epidemic situation, the participants have presented the organizations, the juridical disposals and the mode of operation of the single appellate bodies about the access to public information.
The problems and challenges we face in practice (e.g. silence of authority, use of the public interest test, balance between the right of access to public information and protection of personal data, exceptions to freely available information, etc.) and possible solutions have been highlighted.
Appellate bodies share a similar historical and legal framework and practice shows similar challenges. For good mutual cooperation and exchange of experiences between authorities in the future, a joint declaration on cooperation has also been adopted.