PODGORICA, 07.04.2020. – The Ministry of Public Administration has extended the public debate on the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Free Access to Information until 13th April.
Recently, numerous appeals have been raised advocating that Government department to postpone the debate on this essential law until the situation about the Covid-19 epidemic stabilizes.
“The Ministry of Public Administration has extended further consultations on the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Free Access to Information until April 13, 2020, taking into account the current epidemiological situation and the great public interest, and in order to contribute jointly in this additional process improving proposed solutions”, the ministry said in a statement.
More recently, Transparency International has given full support to a coalition of NGOs and journalists in Montenegro who called on the Government to postpone a public debate on proposed amendments to the Free Access to Information Act. The reason is that public debate on this key law cannot be held during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The proposed changes would remove control over how the Montenegrin authorities declare the information secret. This would allow the information to be classified as confidential if its disclosure could affect the operation of a public authority, which could include information that reveals corruption within that authority.
