There
is no general right of freedom of information in the Constitution.(1)
Article 35 provides for freedom of the press. Article 19
gives everyone a right to "timely and complete information"
about the environment. Article 31 gives individuals a right
to access personal information about themselves and prevent
its abuse.
•
Undernourished people (% of total population),
2000/03: 11
•
Population with sustainable access to an improved
water source (%), 2002: N/A
Source:
UN Development Program, Human Development Reports
Data
The
Law on Free Access to Information was adopted in November
2005 and went into effect then.
The
law allows any natural or legal person the right to access
information held in any form by state and local authorities,
public companies and other entities that perform public
powers. Requests must be in writing, including via email.
Bodies must decide within eight days which can be extended
another 15 days. It cases of emergencies, responses must
be within 48 hours.
There
are exemptions for national security, defense or international
relations; public security, commercial or other private
or public economic benefits; economic monetary or foreign
exchange policy; prevention and investigation of criminal
matters; personal privacy and other personal rights; and
internal negotiations. The interests must be "significantly
harmed" and the harm must be "considerably bigger
than the public interest in publishing such information".
Information cannot be withheld if it relates to ignoring
regulations, unauthorized use of public resources, misuse
of power, criminal offenses and other related maladministration
issues.
Appeals
for denials are to the supervisory body of the agency. Appeals
can then be made to a court.
Government
bodies are also required to create and publish lists of
types of information held including public registers and
records. The media ministry must publish a guide.
There
are sanctions for agencies and officials who fail to allow
access to information, publish the guide or punish whistleblowers.
The
law also includes a limited whistleblower protection provision
that limits sanctions on public employees who publicly reveal
misuse or irregularities and who also inform the head of
the agency or relevant investigatory agency.
The
Ministry of Culture and Media is in charge of implementation
and has conducted some trainings of officials but the perception
by NGOs is that there is little political will on the law.
The Network for the Affirmation of NGO Sector (MANS) has
filed several hundred requests so far and report that the
agencies responded back on time in around 50 percent of
the cases.
There
is currently no data protection act in Montenegro. The government
has established a working group on data protection to develop
a bill to send to Parliament in 2006.
There
is no law on the classification of state secrets but a working
group is developing a bill to legislate on it this year.
The Agency for National Security has issued a decree on
classification but refuses to release it. The Criminal Code
prohibits the disclosure of Official Secrets and Military
Secrets.(2) The Law on the Agency for National
Security allows individuals to ask for their files but thus
far, it says no one has asked for them.
25
NOVEMBER 2002
MONTENEGRO: Government Initiates Bill on Freedom of Information An
excerpt from a report by Montenegrin Mina News Agency published
by BBC Worldwide Monitoring indicates that the Montenegrin
government, Information Secretariat, Interior and Justice
Ministries and representatives from the NGO sector have
signed a joint initiative on a freedom of information bill.
The
aim of the initiative is to increase accountability of the
government and honor the citizens' right to be informed
and participate in all the processes initiated by the government
on their behalf. The parties have agreed to have a first
draft of the Bill by the end of December 2002.
Political
Rights: 3
Civil Liberties: 2
Status: Free
Freedom
House, Nations in Transit 2005
(The ratings are based on a scale of
1 to 7, with 1 representing the highest level and
7 the lowest level of democratic development. The
2005 ratings reflect the period January 1 through
December 31, 2004)
Electoral
Process: 3.25
Civil Society: 2.75
Independent Media: 3.25
Governance: N/A
National Democratic Governance: 4.00
Local Democratic Governance: 3.75
Judicial Framework and Independence: 4.25
Corruption: 5.00
"In
Serbia, the most important development in 2004
was that the new government stopped harassing
and interfering with the editorial practices of
private media. This improvement ended the government's
custom of applying informal pressure on editors,
a policy that had lingered even after the state
of emergency was lifted in 2003. This change affected
the majority of print and electronic media, which
are privately owned. In 2004, the Serbian government
maintained control of public media, notably television,
which has high public influence. In November,
the Parliament adopted the Law on Public Accessibility
to Information and appointed a commissioner to
disclose information about government work that
is of public relevance. However, the law remains
unclear about what information is relevant and
who decides that question. Additionally, the appointed
commissioner was not provided an office, so in
practice there is no place where one can submit
a request."
"On
November 2, the National Assembly passed the Law
on Free Access to Information of Public Importance.
The Law provides for access to information of
"legitimate public importance" (with
many exceptions) and establishes an independent
Commissioner for Information of Public Importance,
selected by the National Assembly, to handle appeals
when Government agencies reject requests for information.
At year's end, the Law was in the early stages
of implementation. Transparency International's
efforts to get information using the new Law have
had poor results."
1)
Voice and Accountability: 0.12
2) Political Instability and Violence: -0.97
3) Government Effectiveness: -0.21
4) Regulatory Burden: -0.72
5) Rule of Law: -0.72
6) Control of Corruption: -0.48
