The Council of Europe’s expert group urges Moldova to improve certain aspects of legislation regarding access to official documents. It pertains to the Access Info Group (AIG) of the Council of Europe, an independent group of experts established to monitor the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents.
On July 16, specialists published a report on Moldova stating that public authorities guarantee the right of access to information upon request without discrimination and by the Convention, which does not differentiate between journalists and other individuals. However, they did not specify whether regulations for certain environmental data comply with the provisions of the Convention.
“Certain limitations on access to information, such as state, banking, or medical secrets, may be broad and even absolute. Therefore, AIG encourages Moldova to apply provisions of the law that require a public interest assessment in disclosing such information and to ensure that the use of absolute restrictions on access to official documents is kept to a minimum in accordance with the Convention,” the analysis further states.
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Experts maintain that the law on access to public information in Moldova complies with the requirements and obligations of the Convention concerning the processing of requests, access forms, and established fees.