2004 freedominfo.org Global Survey Results - Poland
Text from the freedominfo.org Global Survey: Freedom of Information and Access to Government Records Around the World, by David Banisar (updated 12 May 2004)

Article 61 of the Constitution provides for the right to information and mandates that Parliament enact a law setting out this right. (1)

(1) A citizen shall have the right to obtain information on the activities of organs of public authority as well as persons discharging public functions. Such right shall also include receipt of information on the activities of self-governing economic or professional organs and other persons or organizational units relating to the field in which they perform the duties of public authorities and manage communal assets or property of the State Treasury.

(2) The right to obtain information shall ensure access to documents and entry to sittings of collective organs of public authority formed by universal elections, with the opportunity to make sound and visual recordings.

(3) Limitations upon the rights referred to in Paragraphs (1) and (2), may be imposed by statute solely to protect freedoms and rights of other persons and economic subjects, public order, security or important economic interests of the State.

The Law on Access to Public Information was approved in September 2001 and went into effect in January 2002. (2) The Act allows anyone to demand access to public information held by public bodies, private bodies that exercise public tasks, trade unions and political parties. The bodies must respond within 14 days.

There are exemptions for official or state secrets, confidential information, personal privacy and business secrets.

Appeals are made to a court. Parliament is currently discussing amendments that would create an independent commission to enforce the Act.

Public bodies are required to publish information about their policies, legal organization, principles of operation, contents of administrative acts and decisions, and public assets. The law requires that each create a Public Information Bulletin to allow access to information via computer networks. (3)

Poland enacted the Classified Information Protection Act in January 1999 as a condition for entering NATO. (4) The Act covers classified information or information collected by government agencies whose disclosure "might damage interests of the state, public interests, or lawfully protected interests of citizens or of an organization."

A law creating a National Remembrance Institute (IPN) to allow victims of the communist-era secret police access to records was approved by Parliament in October 1998. (5) President Aleksander Kwasniewski vetoed the law, saying that it should allow all Poles, not just the victims, to access the records but his veto was overridden and he later signed the law.(6) The IPN took control of all archives of the communist-era security service and those of courts, prosecutors' offices, the former Communist Party and other institutions. Since February 2001, Polish citizens have been allowed to see their personal files compiled by communist authorities before 1989. (7)

The Screening Act, which allows a special commission to examine the records of government officials who might have collaborated with the secret police, was approved in June 1997, but its implementation was delayed until November 1998, when the Constitutional Tribunal ruled that the Act was constitutional except for two provisions. In July 2000, the Parliamentary Commission for Special Services determined that the State Protection Office had not violated the Act when it gave a court documents on President Aleksander Kwasniewski. The Commission, however, found that the State Protection Office had improperly concluded that Kwasniewski was a secret agent and delayed release of the documents in order to stall the court's investigation. The Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) said that the documents were released to influence the election. (8)

Poland signed the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information in June 1998 and ratified it in February 2002. The Act on Access to Information on the Environment and Its Protection and on Environmental Impact Assessments implements the Convention. (9)

Under the Act on Protection of Personal Data, individuals can obtain and correct records that contain personal information about themselves from both public and private bodies. (10) It is enforced by the Bureau of the Inspector General for the Protection of Personal Data. (11)

Notes

1. Constitution of Poland, http://www.oefre.unibe.ch/law/icl/pl00000_.html

2. Law on Access to Public Information. 6 September 2001 Journal of Laws No 112, item 1198. http://www.ijnet.org/FE_Article/MEdiaLaw.asp?CID=25272&UILang=1&CIdLang=1

3. Main government BIP page: http://www.bip.gov.pl/

4. The Classified Information Protection Act of 22 January 1999.

5. Homepage: http://www.ipn.gov.pl/index_eng.html

6. "Veto Overridden, President Signs Secret Files Bill," Polish News Bulletin, December 21, 1998.

7. "Airing Dirty Laundry", The Warsaw Voice, February 11, 2001 No. 6 (642).

8. RFE/RL Newsline Vol. 4, No. 146, Part II, 1 August 2000.

9. The Act of 9 November 2000 on Access to Information on the Environment and Its Protection and on Environmental Impact Assessments, http://www.mos.gov.pl/mos/akty-p/dostep_eng.html. For a detailed review of the act, see Access to Environmental Information. http://www.mos.gov.pl/aarhus/dokumenty/Access-to-envir-info.pdf

10. Act of August 29, 1997 on the Protection of Personal Data. Journal of Laws of October 29, 1997, No. 133, item 883 with later amendments. http://www.giodo.gov.pl/English/Bgiw1220.htm

11. Web Site of Data Protection Commission. http://www.giodo.gov.pl/English/english.htm