Access to information can be refused if it threatens national or public security the economy the environment commercial or private legitimate interests monetary and exchange policies or if interferes with the prevention of criminal offences. A decision on the request should be made within 30 days. Costs of photocopying, transcribing, translating or delivering the documents can be charged to the applicant. Reviewing the documents at the institution's building is free of charge. Īpplicants can submit the requests in writing or orally. The appointed person for mediating information shall provide the necessary information, help the applicant and keep special records for receipt of the applications for information. The holder of the information is obliged to inform the public on the official person responsible for mediating information. They are the reference point for the citizens willing to exercise their right to access public information. Īll institutions subject to the law are required to appoint officials for handling access to information requests. Also, they are obliged to provide premises for inspection of the requested information. The holders of information are obliged to keep records and to update the list of information in their disposal and to publish them in a manner available to the public. Access to them may be refused in exceptional cases determined by law. In general, all information available to the public authorities holding the information is public. The public authorities subject to the law are governmental institutions and other bodies and institutions set by law, municipal bodies, public institutions and services, public enterprises and natural persons and legal entities performing a public service. The Law on Free Access to Information stresses the obligation of the institutions to provide information with precise deadlines: it allows individuals and legal entities to exercise their right of access to public information and obliges the holders of information to provide information to the public. However, according to the European Commission, the implementation of the Law on Free Access to Public Information remains ineffective. According to a research carried out by the Centre for Law and Democracy, Macedonia is in the high 14th place on the world ranking list of states having the most functional law on free access to public information, despite the fact that this right has been introduced into Macedonian legal system in a relatively recent period. The Law has been significantly amended at the beginning of 2010. To implement this constitutional right, the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia in January 2006 adopted the Law on Free Access to Public Information defining the procedures for exercising this right. Īccess to public information is guaranteed by the Constitution of North Macedonia (Article 16). The fundamental premise of the right of access to public information is that the information held by governmental institutions is in principle public and may be concealed only on the basis of legitimate reasons which should be detailed in the law. Access to public information is considered of fundamental importance for the effective functioning of democratic systems, as it enhances governments' and public officials' accountability, boosting people participation and allowing their informed participation into public life. See also: Access to public information in EuropeĪccess to public information and freedom of information (FOI) refer to the right of access to information held by public bodies also known as "right to know".
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