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THE LAW OF BULGARIA ON ACCESS TO PUBLIC INFORMATION

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The Law on Access to Public Information (LAPI) was adopted in Bulgaria in June 2000. The philosophy of the Law, the first of its kind in Bulgaria, makes the decision-making process more transparent by creating opportunities for citizens and legal entities to make well-informed choices and by enhancing the process of regular reporting about official affairs.

Information may be requested in several forms including written, verbal, electronic, and that accessible to the disabled. The request must be answered within 14 days. Although providing a broad notion of the public information, LAPI includes the following limitations on the access to information: the grant of access to public information may not be exercised against other persons’ rights and reputation, the national security, public order, peoples’ health and the recognized moral standards. Citizens are not under obligation to prove their interest in obtaining information.

Legal practice and lawyers have faced problems gaining access to public information for several reasons including non-motivated refusal, and when agencies refuse to comply with law requirements after a party’s reference to the court. In addition, the public is still largely unaware of the existence of these legal provisions. NGOs provide the valuable service of bringing these issues to public attention.

LAPI is more significant to environmental law as it provides better provisions than those found in the Environmental Protection Act (EPA), adopted in 1991. In September, representatives and lawyers from different environmental NGOs discussed the Ministry of Environment and Waters’ (MOEW) proposed draft for a new EPA. It was concluded that the proposed regulations in the chapter “Access to Information” are weak and the provisions of LAPI should be applied in those cases. The administrative penalty and Environmental Impact Assessment provisions were discussed. The conference decided to send a letter to MOEW with suggested amendments to the EPA draft.