The Civil Society in Macedonia is very much concerned about the quality of the proposed draft Law on Free Access to Information of Public Character as it does not meet international standards on access to information. Today (18.01.2006), it is expected that the Macedonian Parliament will adopt the Law.

Nongovernmental organizations Article 19, Foundation Open Society Institute - Macedonia, Pro Media-Skopje and Transparency-Macedonia sent an open letter to the President of the Republic of Macedonia, President of the Parliament and the President of the Government stating their concerns regarding the weaknesses in the latest Draft Law on Free Access to Information. They also complain about the lack of real progress towards its adoption.

The letter that was signed by 126 Macedonian civil society organizations appeals for prompt adoption of the Law on Free Access to Information that considers the recommendations given by Article 19 and is consistent with international standards. The main concerns include:

- The law does not claim final authority in matters of freedom of information, and is vulnerable to being eclipsed by secrecy laws, such as the Classified Information Law. - Plans to establish a commission charged with hearing appeals and promoting implementation of the law have been dropped in favour of adjudication in the regular court system. Experience across many countries shows that an independent administrative complaints mechanism is essential to the effective functioning of an access to information system; court procedures are simply too lengthy and costly for the vast majority of potential information complainants. - The law does not contain a clear "harm test", which would stipulate that requests for information should never be refused unless disclosure would pose a serious risk of actual harm. - The law does not guarantee protection of whistleblowers

The process of drafting the law was initiated by several NGOs in June 2003. Additionally, during this two year period, they contributed to the drafting of the FOI law through organizing public hearings, debates and facilitating the process of draft law improvements.

The draft proposal of the Law suffered dramatic changes during this period and the adoption of the Law was postponed several times. Unfortunately the concerns of the civil society, articulated in front of the Parliamentary Commission this week, were not taken into account when drafting the final version of the Law that went into parliamentary procedure. NGOs and FOI activists push for changes to the Law and hope that the Macedonian Parliament will adopt it taking into consideration their remarks and recommendations. In the mean time, Macedonia remains the only country in the region that has not adopted a Freedom of Information Law.

Article 19 calls for the speedy adoption of Macedonian Freedom of Information law ( 12.01 2006)
http://www.article19.org/pdfs/letters/macedonian-foi-law-letter.pdf

Comments on the Draft Law on Free Access to Information
http://www.soros.org.mk/dokumenti/MacedoniaLawonFreeAccesstoInformatio...

(Contribution by Bardhyl Jashari, EDRI-member Foundation Metamorphosis - Macedonia)