On the International Day for the Universal Access to Information, MANS published on its website the Analysis of the proactive publishing of information by all ministries in the Government of Montenegro. The analysis shows that most ministries usually publish general information about their work, but not key information important for the fight against corruption.
All ministries in the Government of Montenegro have The access to information guide published on their websites, updated or outdated. However, two thirds of the information published upon request is not posted on websites, although this is explicitly prescribed by the Law on Free Access to Information. Namely, the ministries usually only post decisions on requests, but not information to which access was granted upon request.
Almost 60% of public registers and public records could not be recorded on the websites of the executive power bodies. Timely publication of such comprehensive documents would reduce the need to search for a large number of individual information upon request, which would be beneficial both for the citizens and the civil sector, as well as for institutions that are obliged to make their work transparent.
The selectivity of ministries in proactive publication of information is reflected in the fact that only a quarter of strategic documents with plans and programs for their use are published entirely. Only five ministries published opinions of the experts on these proposals along with the draft laws in the manner prescribed by the Law.
When it comes to publishing of acts and contracts on the use of public funds, all ministries have this information section on their website, but not even half of them fully disclosed this information.
Finally, solutions and other single acts of relevance to the rights, obligations and interests of third parties are not represented enough. These documents are usually only partially posted on websites.
Low proactivity in publishing of single documents that directly testify to the work of the institutions deprives the possibility of uninterrupted monitoring and control of their work. Selectivity in publication of single documents, which are crucial for proving corruption, opens up a vast space to hide corruptive practices. This creates the need to launch a much more complex process of obtaining information upon request, which involves a number of institutions and often takes a long time. Therefore, proactive public informing is of multiple importance, and is one of the best mechanisms that provides transparency of institutions in developed democracies.
Analysis of the proactive publishing of information by the ministries in the Government of Montenegro is available here
MANS
