Freedom of Information Prevails

The HCLU has won the lawsuit against the Government Control Office. The Office must make its reports public. Click away for more!

The HCLU has initiated a lawsuit against the Government Control Office (GCO), to make public their report analyzing the failure on the reform of the public administration.

In May, 2007, the Metropolitan Court has dismissed the HCLU’s action on the liberty to appeal. According to the ruling, GCO is considered a state organization which has an idependent legal personality and is structurally seperated from the cabinet, it’s activity is specifically aimed at supporting the government in decision-making procedures, therefore the reports to the government already completed and delivered are not public.

The HCLU has appealed the decision. Today, the Budapest Metropolitan Highest Court in its final verdict has established, that the requested data are not preparatory documents for decision making. Thus, the GCO has 15 days to issue the documents. The decision means that GCO documents previously inaccessible, are now considered public interest data. Today’s is a significant ruling and an important victory for Freedom of Information cases.

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