In 2021, almost nothing happened in terms of guarantees for NGOs. It was a crisis year in which there was sustained pressure on democracy and the rule of law. The only positives were that organizations led to public hearings being held on the National Recovery Plan and the election of an independent person as Ombudsman,…
Roksana Maślankiewicz: Tell me, which came first in your case – the right to information or animal rights? How did you learn about the right to information? Anna Gdula: I started by advocating for animal rights. In 2012, I met Iza Kadłucka on Facebook. We founded the first “Lex Nova” Foundation. During the first years…
We asked the Chancellery of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Health about the basis for the introduction of the national quarantine and information about the Medical Council, which was supposed to be a subsidiary body of the Prime Minister. Instead of information, we got a demonstration of different ways to inform about… the…
Although Michał Woś, the Minister of the Environment, has set up a working group to promote transparency in NGO funding, he himself gives evasive answers and restricts the citizen’s right of access to public information. For this reason, we are taking legal action and filing a complaint of his inaction. What exactly is it all…
In violation of Article 61 of the Constitution, the judgments of the courts create the possibility of avoiding transparency and create restrictions that have neither a constitutional nor a statutory basis. Courts have allowed for great discretionary power, so the sense of responsibility for the way the law is created has not been generated in…
One of the goals of the draft Act on Openness of Public Life presented by Minister Kamiński (coordinator of special intelligence services) on October 23rd, 2017 is increasing the openness of the legislative process. Such idea may only be applauded, unfortunately the Minister misdiagnosed problems of the transparency of legislative processes, and the Act picks…
Public Information: Persistent Non-transparency The draft opens another door to limit the right of access to information: government may refuse to disclose information if it deems the request has been filed in a ‘persistent’ manner and it would ‘significantly burden the operation of the target entity’. Access to information secured in the constitution of democratic…
Citizens are constitutionally entitled to observe and record plenary sessions of the Sejm and Senate [the two chambers of the Polish parliament]. Arguing such rights with the Marshal’s Guards barring a citizen from entering, however, is another matter altogether. The Senate Marshal, Mr Stanisław Karczewski, published on the Senate’s website a statement claiming that [opposition]…
Below you will find translation of our Application to the European Court of Human Rights on Violation of article 10 of the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, signed on March 29, 2013. Full Application (in Polish). II EXPOSÉ DES FAITS STATEMENT OF FACTS (Voir chapitre II de la note explicative)…
Below you will find translation of our Constitutional Complaint regarding provisions of FOIA that restrict access to information on legislative process. The Complaint in Polish. Polish Freedom of Information Act before 2011’s amendments. The amendments to Freedom of Information Act introduced in 2011. 2nd January 2013 Warsaw Constitutional Court, Warsaw Complaining Party: Association of…
On the 5th of July 2011, Polish government accepted a draft of a new law on access to public information. The reason for updating the existing Act that is 10 years old, was the implementation of the EC Directive on the Re-Use of Public Sector Information. The promise made by the government after almost three…