The HCLU Wins 100 Billion Lawsuit

In September, 2006 the HCLU has sued the Ministry of Finance for denying to make public the information relating to the 100 billion forint deficit in the 2006 budget. Last October the Metropolitan Court has ruled in favor of the HCLU and in it's first instance decision has declared the requested data to be of public-interest.

Today, the Metropolitan Appeal Court has upheld the first instance decision. According to the court, the contents and exact details of the single item mentioned at the press Finance Ministry's press conference, which increases the 2006 budget deficit by 100 billion forints and has to be made public, thus handed over to the plaintiff, HCLU.

The HCLU considers today's and last year's ruling of the Metropolitan Court to be a success for the freedom of information and reminds that the law on public-intrest data is to be followed by government organizations, such as the Ministry of Finance. The HCLU is also delighted that the Metropolitan Appeal Court, with todays ruling has confirmed that the data-definition of the Data Protection Act also covers data of estimations and prognosis.

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