Contemporary Challenges of Access to Information in Public Governance in South Eastern Europe
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4335/13.2.185-204(2015)Keywords:
access to information, RTI, administrative procedure, good governance and administration, South Eastern Europe, EUAbstract
Access or right to information (RTI) is a fundamental principle in a democratic society. Most countries, particularly in the EU, regulate such institution by law, making a distinction between access to file within administrative procedures and access to public information. The article provides a normative and comparative study of the RTI regulation in Slovenia, Serbia and Croatia as South Eastern European countries. The dilemmas arising in the practical implementation thereof are analyzed as well. In the respective area, the degree of awareness of the need for open and good administration governance is rather high, taking into account EU guidelines, yet regulation alone does not suffice and should be followed by effective implementation to overcome still undergoing processes of Europeanization and (post)transition and develop good administrative governance.
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Wakefield, J. (2007) The Right to Good Administration (Alphen: Kluwer Law International).
Ziller, J. (2011) Alternatives in Drafting Administrative Procedure Law, EP/DG IntP Dep. C (Strasbourg: Venice Commission), available at http://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/juri/studiesdownload.html?languageDocument=EN&file=59979 (November 28, 2014).
Androjna, V. & E. Kerševan (2006) Upravno procesno pravo (Ljubljana: GV Založba).
Banisar, D. (2006) Freedom of information around the world 2006 – a global survey of access to government information laws (London: Privacy International), available at http://www.freedominfo.org/documents/global_survey2006.pdf (December 5, 2014).
Barnes, J. (2008) Transforming Administrative Procedure (St Louis: Global Law Press).
Bevir, M. (ed) (2011) Governance (Los Angeles: Sage).
Bugarič, B. (2003) Odprta javna uprava, Zbornik znanstvenih razprav, 63(1), pp. 119–156.
Dunn, N. W., Staronova, K. & Pushkarev, S. (eds) (2006) Implementation – the Missing Link in Public Administration Reform in Central and Eastern Europe (Bratislava: NISPAcee).
Galligan, D. J., Langan, R. H. & Nicandrou, C. S. (eds.) (1998) Administrative Justice in the New European Democracies (Oxford: Open Society Institute, Centre for Socio-Legal Studies at the University of Oxford).
GRTI Centre for Law and Democracy (2012) The Global Right to Information Rating (Halifax: Centre for Law and Democracy), available at http://www.rti-rating.org/country_rating.php (December 5, 2014).
EU Ombudsman (2012) Code of Good Administrative Behavior (Strasbourg: EU Ombudsman), available at http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/en/resources/code.faces (December 31, 2014).
Felle, T. & Adshead, M. (2009) Democracy and the Right to Know – 10 Years of Freedom of Information in Ireland (Limerick: University of Limerick), available at http://www.ul.ie/ppa/content/files/Felle_democracy.pdf (December 5, 2014).
Gotze, M. (2012) European citizens’ right to know – an evolving component in legal transparency, 34th EGPA Conference, Bergen (1–8), available at http://egpa-conference2012.org/list-of-papers (July 15, 2013).
Hoffmann-Riem, W., Schmidt-Assmann, E. & Vosskuhle, A. (eds) (2008) Grundlagen des Verwaltungsrechts (Band II) (München: Beck).
Koprić, I. (2011) Contemporary Croatian Public Administration on the Reform Waves, Yearbook of Croatian Academy of Legal Sciences, 2(1), pp. 1–39.
Kotnik Šumah, K. (2010) Kaj nas čaka na področju transparentnosti, Pravna praksa, 29(5), pp. 13–14.
Kovač, P., Rakar, I. & Remic. M. (2012) Upravno-procesne dileme pri rabi ZUP 2 (Ljubljana: Uradni list RS).
Künnecke, M. (2007) Tradition and Change in Administrative Law: an Anglo-German Comparison (Berlin, New York: Springer).
Mendel, T. (2008) UNESCO Freedom of Information: A Comparative Legal Survey (Paris: UNESCO), available at http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/files/26159/12054862803freedom
_information_en.pdf/freedom_information_en.pdf (December 5, 2014).
Nehl, H. P. (1999) Principles of Administrative Procedure in EC Law (Oxford: Hart).
Nylander, J. (2006) The Administrative Procedure Act: A Public Policy Perspective (Michigan Bar Journal).
Peters, B. G. & Pierre, J. (eds) (2005) Handbook of Public Administration (London: Sage).
Pličanič, S. (ed.) (2005) Komentar Zakona o dostopu do informacij javnega značaja (Ljubljana: Inštitut za javno upravo).
Prepeluh, U. (2005) Pravica dostopa do informacij javnega značaja (Ljubljana: Pravna fakulteta).
Rose-Ackerman, S. & P. L. Lindseth (eds.) (2011) Comparative Administrative Law (Cheltenham, Northampton: Elgar).
Salha, A. (2014) Freedom of Information Act: a Comparative Analysis (Paris: Unesco) available at http://www.dirittodisapere.it/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/FOIAComp
Analysis.pdf (December 31, 2014) (Milano: Dirito di Sapere).
Savino, M. (2010) The Right to Open Public Administration in Europe: Emerging Legal Standards, Sigma Paper No. 46 (Paris: SIGMA).
Schuppert, G. F. (2000) Verwaltungswissenschaft (Baden-Baden: Nomos).
Schwarze, J. (2004) Judicial Review of European Administrative Procedure, Law and Contemporary Problems,68(1), pp. 84–105.
Statskontoret (2005) Principles of Good Administration in the MS of the European Union (Stockholm: Statskontoret) available at http://www.statskontoret.se/upload/
Publikationer/2005/200504.pdf (December 5, 2014).
Šturm, L. (ed.) (2011) Komentar Ustave Republike Slovenije, Dopolnitev – A (Brdo: Fakulteta za državne in evropske študije).
Trpin, G. (2008) The Process of Communication between Citizens and Public Authority Bodies – a New Concept of General Administrative Procedure, Lex Localis - Journal of Local Self-Government, 6(2), pp. 153–169.
The Economist (2013) Democracy Index 2012: Democracy is at a Standstill - A report from the Economist Intelligence Unit (London: EIU), available at http://www.eiu.com/public/thankyou_download.aspx?activity=download&campaignid=DemocracyIndex12 (November 28, 2014).
Transparency International (2013) Corruption Perception Index (Berlin: Transparency International), available at http://www.transparency.org/cpi2013 (December 5, 2014).
Venice Commission – European Commission for Democracy through Law (2011) Stocktaking on the Notions of »Good Governance« and »Good Administration«, Study 470/2008, CDL-AD(2001)009 (Strasbourg: Venice Commission), available at http://www.venice.coe.int/docs/2011/CDL-AD(2011)009-e.pdf (December 15, 2012).
Vodovnik, Z. (2013) Employment relationships in the public sector - a balance between the state, local and autonomous regulations, Lex localis - Journal of Local Self-Government, 11(3), pp. 497–512.
Wakefield, J. (2007) The Right to Good Administration (Alphen: Kluwer Law International).
Ziller, J. (2011) Alternatives in Drafting Administrative Procedure Law, EP/DG IntP Dep. C (Strasbourg: Venice Commission), available at http://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/juri/studiesdownload.html?languageDocument=EN&file=59979 (November 28, 2014).
Published
2015-01-26
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