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The pillars of the democratic state
Social contract
Authority and power entrusted in state by citizens
State to pursue tasks in the interest of the common good.
Derives legitimacy from within national state publics and international community
Respect for rule of law- fair laws.
Respect for Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
Responsive state and creation of public value
Maximum participation of citizens in governance
Democracy and global access to information
Intensified public debate about access to information at a global scale
Bound with political claims for accountability and responsiveness
Communication technologies and generational experiences contribute to global exchange of information and networking
Global financial crisis since 2008 and endangering of social cohesion gave rise to demands for better governance
Global political revolutions and social movements for accountability and stronger citizen participation in government.
European and international standards
Article 19 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
Lisbon Treaty: member States are bound by Freedom of Information commitments
Article 42 right to Access to Documents European Charter of Fundamental Rights; Article 41 The right to Good Administration
Council of Europe: European convention on Access to official documents
Joint declaration UN and OSCE on protecting free media and expression 2004
PSI Directive 2003 and amended Directive for 2015: reuse fo public data
Governance and Access to Information
World Governance Indicators put Austria consistently in the period 1996- 2013 among the top 10% countries in the world in six indicators.
Voice and accountability has risen to 96%Political stability to 96.7% after period of turbulence in late 1990s and earl 2000s;governemnt effectiveness has fallen at 92% and regulatory quality at 91%; control of corruption all time low at 88% since 2009 risen to 90% in 2013
worldbank.org
RTI International rankings
Access Info Europe (Spain) and Centre for Law and Democracy (Canada)
Section Max Score
Actual Score
Right to Access
6 2
Scope 30 23
Requesting Procedures
30 8
Exceptions 30 2
Appeals 30 2
Sanctions 8 0
Promotional measures
16 0
TOTAL 150 37
Current tensions
Amtschweigepflicht: duty to secrecy for civil servants
“All functionaries entrusted with Federal, Laender and municipal administrative duties…are…pledged to secrecy about all facts of which they obtained knowledge exclusively from their official activity”
No Information Officer (Informationsbeauftragter)
Perceived conflict between freedom of information and protection of personal data
Administrative tensions Laender vs Bundesland vs municipalities
Public debates on access to information Austria
Access to information in the public domain both press and civil societya. New NGO for transparency in information in Austria founded on September 28, 2014 b. Frag den Staat (ask the State) (fragdenstaat.at) submission of question about a July
2013 report by the Ministry of Finance that calculated the costs on tax losses and unemployment among other things of relocation of companies abroad (Forum fuer Infromationsfreiheit (FOI)). Concordia Prize for Press Freedom. Connected to Transparenzgesetz.at. Over 10 000 supporters
c. Press generally critical of Amtsschweigepflicht
State response: constitutional change
“Open government” principle
“Informationspflicht” i.e. Duty to Information
“Universal” i.e. across Bundes- and Laender level
Restrictions on the basis of national security; public order and safety. Contested term on restrictions during a “decision-making” process. Economic and financial interests (although tax related access to info under debate)
OSCE report on Austria
Change of Administrative Culture necessary: danger that even the law, if weak, will not revert the culture of secrecy
Unclear why secrecy during the process of decision-making
Principle of balancing FOI Right to particular interests.
No provision to access to original documents
OSCE 2013
MODEL for constitutional reform in Access to information
Strong statement affirming a freestanding universal right of access to all information in the hands of public authorities
Clear limits to permissible exceptions
Information can be withheld only if disclosure would pose risk or harm and if outweighs public interest
Independence of oversight body
Principle of maximum access
Rapid and low-cost processing of requests
Rules on proper information management
Proactive publication of information by public authorities
Sanctions for conduct that violates the right to information
RTI Analysis of Constitutional Protections of the Right to Information March 2012
