ADMINISTRATIVE-PROCEDURAL AND OTHER SIMILAR FORMS OF PROTECTION OF THE RIGHT OF ACCESS TO INFORMATION IN COMPARATIVE LAW

Abstract

Pursuit for new and more effective forms of control of public administration and public authorities in general, has led to the emergence of a new citizens’ right in the mid 60’s of the 20th century, which some authors might rightly call fundamental - the right of free access to information (FAI). In the past fifty years this right quickly spread to all continents and today more than 100 countries are closely regulating the manner of its implementation and protection through specific laws. This paper presents a comparative analysis of the administrative-procedural and other similar forms of protection of the right of access to information in 19 countries. The study reveals that in the comparative legislation, many different models of its protection can be recognized. A number of countries persist on the traditional model of administrative-procedural protection of this right. However, in affirmation of this right, citizens are becoming the “fourth power” which directly controls the work of state bodies and with time this led to the establishment of new models different from this traditional one. Notably it is a model which involves independent and autonomous control authority with the imperative competences in the administrative-legal protection and court in the administrative-judicial protection. Another model which is less accepted in the world and which in the practice did not prove itself is the one where the control is performed by independent bodies not with imperative but with the “ombudsman” competences. Some countries have also “atypical” approach to the protection of this right which does not include administrative instance of the control but only the court protection. Model of the protection through the independent control body with the imperative competences has shown the best results and today it is increasingly expanding. It has been accepted not only by countries in transition, but also by some developed western democracies.