IDFI: quality of access to public information in Georgia improved in 2021

The Agriculture Ministry topped the ranking for responsiveness, with over 95 percent of requests to the body resulting in information being provided. Photo: mepa.gov.ge 

Agenda.ge, 23 May 2022 - 18:47, Tbilisi,Georgia

The quality of access to public information in Georgia improved by two percent in 2021 compared to the previous year, a new study by the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information, a Georgian-based non-governmental organisation, shows. 

The organisation said the slightly improved rate was due to a “weakening impact” of the pandemic on public institutions, and improvements in practice of low accountability established over the years at individual state agencies.

Out of 8,446 requests sent to 285 public institutions in 2021, IDFI received responses to 6,961 applications, which amounted to 82 percent. The NGO said the 10-day response deadline had been met in 4,545 of the cases, or 54 percent. The report also showed 28 percent of public institutions refusing information requests or offering no response to inquiries of the NGO. 

The Infrastructure and Agriculture ministries topped the ranking for responsiveness, with over 95 percent of requests to the two bodies resulting in information being provided. The Government Administration and the Culture Ministry were marked with the lowest rate of responses, with a 30.44 percent figure for the former and 0 percent for the latter respectively. 

The IDFI study also showed the rate of complete responses from public institutions had increased by two percent compared to the previous year, with the percentage of unanswered requests decreasing by four percent. 

In reference to the latter number, IDFI noted the Justice Ministry - previously headed by the current Culture Minister Thea Tsulukiani - had begun releasing previously inaccessible information since her switch from the Ministry, while the Culture Ministry had adopted a closed approach to releasing information since her appointment as the head of the body in spring 2021.

The impact of personal and expected policy changes on the degree of publicity of the administrative body clearly indicates the need to establish effective mechanisms in the country for access to information,” the NGO said in its conclusions to the report.