Access to Public Information of Local Government Units: Abuse of law

Abstract

In January 2021, a questionnaire was carried out among employees of local selfgovernment units in order to identify training needs and the most significant problems concerning the application of the provisions of the Access to Public Information Act. The questionnaire shows that the most frequent problem in the application of the provisions of the said Act is the abuse of the right to public information. Abuse of the right to information is such an activity of the entitled entity, which is exercising the right to information in accordance with the established legal order, but is not included in the objectives of this right adopted by the legislator. Despite repeated postulates of the doctrine, the Act on Access to Public Information has not been amended to take into account the existence of the institution of abuse of the right. At present, the Supreme Administrative Court does not question its existence, however, for the sake of clarity of the law it would be worthwhile to include appropriate provisions safeguarding the work of bodies obliged to provide public information against requests that are clearly intended only to persecute or obstruct their normal activities.