Access to public information deteriorated, says a report

The access to public information has deteriorated in 2018 compared to the previous year, says the report published by the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI).

IDFI received 3,653 responses out of 6,413 total requests sent to 282 public institutions.

About 493 responses were incomplete, 33 requests were refused, and 959 requests were ignored at all.

20% of public institutions have totally ignored the requests on bonuses and salary supplements.

IDFI states the other problematic categories were:

•  Fuel limits and expenses,
•  Judicial disputes against public institutions
•  Restaurant expenses.

IDFI has also named the most and least accountable public institutions in 2018.

Under the report, the most accountable public institution was the Ministry of Environment Protection and Agriculture of Georgia which ‘exhibited almost perfect (99.9%) compliance with freedom of information regulations.’

IDFI assesses the Ministry of Justice as the least accountable public institution in 2018.

Read the full report here.