2004 freedominfo.org Global Survey Results - Slovenia
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)

The Constitution of Slovenia states:

Article 38. Everyone has the right of access to the collected personal data that relates to him and the right to judicial protection in the event of any abuse of such data.

Article 39. Except in such cases as are provided by law, everyone has the right to obtain information of a public nature in which he has a well founded legal interest under law.

The Act on Access to Information of Public Character was adopted in February 2003. (1) It provides that "everyone" has a right to information of public character held by state bodies, local government agencies, public agencies, public contractors and other entities of public law. The bodies must respond in 20 days.

There are exemptions for classified data, business secrets, personal information that would infringe privacy, confidentiality of statistics information, public archives, tax procedure, criminal prosecutions, administrative or civil procedures, pre-decisional materials that would lead to a misunderstanding, nature conservation, and internal operations.

There is a right of appeal to the Commission on Access to Information of Public Character. Its decisions can be appealed to a court. Fines can be imposed for destruction of information or failure to disclose without authorization. The Citizens Rights Ombudsman also has jurisdiction over the right to information. (2)

The Ministry of the Information Society is in charge of implementation and promotion of the act. The Ministry of Interior, which is in charge of public administration, is also involved in implementation. Public bodies are required to appoint a leading official to receive requests and to create a catalog of the public information and make it available on the Internet along with the current and proposed regulations, programmes, strategies, views, opinions and other documents of public character. They must also publish annual reports on the act.

The Classified Information Act was adopted in 2001 to implement NATO rules on protection of classified information. (3) It is overseen by the Government Office for the Protection of Classified Information. In April 2003, many of the security files of the UDBA, the former Yugoslavian secret police were published on a web site in Thailand by the Slovene Honorary Consul for New Zealand Dusan Lajovic. The documents were on over one million people including the officials, collaborators, and targets of surveillance. The current intelligence agency and the national archives claimed they did not have a copy of the files in their archives. (4)

The Personal Data Protection Act provides for individuals to access and correct their personal information held by public or private bodies. (5) It is overseen by the Inspectorate for Personal Data Protection (6) and the Ombudsman.

Slovenia signed the Aarhus Convention in June 1998. Article 14 of 1993 Environmental Protection Act states that environmental data is public property. (7)

Under the Archives and Archival Institutions Act, most documents are available 30 years after their creation. Documents with data that could harm national security, public order or economic interests can be withheld for 40 years and those containing personal information can be withheld for 75 years or 10 years after the death of the person mentioned. (8)

Notes

1. Act on Access to Information of Public Character. http://www.privacyinternational.org/countries/slovenia/foia-2003.doc

2. Homepage: http://www.varuh-rs.si/

3. See Classified Information Act, Publicised: 8.11.2001; Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia, No 87/2001 http://nato.gov.si/eng/documents/classified-info-act/

4. REF/RL Balkan Report, 25 April 2003.

5. Personal Data Protection Act (Ur. l. RS, 59/99); Law amending Personal Data Protection Act Ur. l. RS, 57/01, http://www.privacyexchange.org/legal/nat/omni/slovenia.html

6. Inspectorate for Personal Data Protection homepage: http://www.mp.gov.si/index.php?id=717&L=1

7. Official Gazette of RS, No. 32/93.

8. Archives and Archival Institutions Act (Official Gazette of the RS, No. 20/97). http://www.arhiv.gov.si/fileadmin/arhiv.gov.si/pageuploads/razno/AAIA.pdf