The Constitution of Georgia provides for and recognizes the freedom of information,[1] given concrete content and implemented by the General Administrative Code of Georgia.[2] Access to public information, as one of the components of freedom of information, plays an important role in the process of state transparency, implementation of open governance, and building trust in public agencies. Therefore, the publicity of information is one of the most important benchmarks for the quality of democracy in the country.

Freedom of information occupies a special place in the Constitution of Georgia, as vital discussions and debates characteristic of free societies are impossible without it.[3] According to the interpretation of the European Court of Human Rights, the barriers to access to information imposed by the government turn into a form of indirect censorship. [4]

Despite the legal regulation and the standards supported by international practice, access to public information in Georgia is associated with a number of challenges. As the second priority set for the EU membership candidate status requires increasing the accountability and transparency of public agencies, improvement of freedom information standards is now particularly pertinent and important for Georgia. [5] Accordingly, existing barriers in this direction can prove to be substantively damaging to the European integration process of Georgia.

In June 2023, the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) published an assessment report on access to public information.[6] The document emphasizes that the quality of access to information has sharply declined. The response rate to public information requests in 2022 was the worst (58%) since 2010.

The IDFI report examines trends in access to information quantitatively/statistically. Accordingly, it emphasizes the scale of the problem. The purpose of the present document is not so much to emphasize the quantitative but the substantive aspects: what kind of information is withheld by public agencies, on what basis public information is refused or incomplete information is provided, and how effective the use of the administrative complaint/court appeal mechanism is in case of the refusal to provide public information.

The document was prepared by the Social Justice Center based on the information requested from individual agencies. Accordingly, we cannot generalize the assessments presented in it to all public agencies and categories of information.

Share