- The Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic declared the part of the Information Act on charging unconstitutional.
- The opposition and the public defender of rights contested the amendment at the Constitutional Court.
- The proponents defended the proposal with the need to solve the overcrowding of obliged persons.
- The President of the Slovak Republic vetoed the law, but the Parliament subsequently overrode the veto.
The part of the law on free access to information, which allows charging for the provision of information, is contrary to the constitution. This was decided by the Constitutional Court of the Slovak Republic, which suspended the effectiveness of the disputed provisions already in March of this year.
The amendment to the Information Act was challenged at the ÚS by a group of opposition MPs, as well as public defender of rights Róbert Dobrovodský. According to the ÚS, the provisions are in conflict with several articles of the constitution, as well as with the article of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which concerns freedom of expression.
The opposition PS movement drew attention to the fact that the amendment could seriously interfere with people’s basic rights and freedoms when submitting to the ÚS. It pointed out that the amendment to the Information Act introduced a new institute, the so-called extremely extensive search for information and its charging, which, however, she did not specify.
“With this amendment, the coalition MPs introduced into the Info Act a tool for absolute arbitrariness on the part of obliged persons, among them are, for example, ministries, central bodies of public administration or self-government. Anyone who requests information in terms of the Info Act is thus exposed to legal uncertainty and the unpredictability of the actions of state authorities.” stated PS Lucia Swimming pool.
The amendment, effective from March 1, was submitted by the SNS MPs. The applicants justified the possibility of requesting a fee by the costs associated with an extremely extensive search for information. They argued the need to respond to the long-standing problems of overwhelming obligees with frequent or excessive requests for disclosure of information. The legislation was vetoed by Slovak President Peter Pellegrini, but the parliament overrode his veto and re-adopted the amendment last December.
