After the coordination meeting of the representatives of government officials, civil society and donor organizations devoted to the monitoring the implementation of the Law of Ukraine "On Access to Public Information” being recently held, on 17 February 2015 the Council of Europe office in Ukraine within the Joint Programme between the European Union and the Council of Europe "Strengthening information society in Ukraine" and the Council of Europe Project “Integration of European standards in the Ukrainian media environment” funded by the government of Canada organized in Kyiv the Round table entitled "Implementation of the Law of Ukraine "On access to public information": international obligations, current challenges and legislative initiatives".
The event gathered more than 90 participants, including the representatives of the the Council of Europe, EU Delegation to Ukraine, Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights, Council of Europe experts, representatives of the State Committee of Television and Radio Broadcasting, Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, central executive bodies, local authorities, experts, NGOs working on the implementation of the Law of Ukraine "On Access to Public Information", civil society leaders and the media.
Mr Patrick Penninckx, Head of Information Society Department, Information Society and Action against Crime Directorate, Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law (DGI) of the Council of Europe, Mr Alexandru Albu, Head of Operation section 1 of EU Delegation to Ukraine, Mrs Valeriya Lutkovska, Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsperson), Mr Oleg Nalyvaiko, Head of the State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine and Mrs Tetiana Baranova, Head of the State Archive Service of Ukraine have greeted the participants with the opening remarks.
Patrick Penninks, Head of Information Society Department, Information Society and Action against Crime Directorate, Directorate General of Human Rights and Rule of Law (DGI) of the Council of Europe, addressing the participants emphasized the exceptional importance of the access to public information right, noting that "democracy needs transparancy and public debate. Society has the right to be properly informed about matters of public interest". In addition Mr. Albu in his speech underlined that "the rights to access information in possession of the state administration and the rights to protection of personal data are two of fundamental rights recognized at the European level"..
The event provided a forum for discussion on practical problems of the Law of Ukraine "On Access to Public Information” implementation which, according to the experts, do negatively affect the proper implementation of the access to information right and do not allow to implement fully the progressive provisions of the law. Moreover the Concept paper for the draft law On Improvement of Certain Provisions of Legislation on Access to Public Information prepared by the staff of the Ombudsperson Office and the representatives of the Expert Council on access to public information under support of the Council of Europe expert and the member of Expert Council on access to public information - Dmytro Kotlyar, was presented during the Round table.
The discussion was focused on the issue of state supervision over the implementation of the right to access to public information and on the independence of the regulatory authority. Mrs. Valeria Lutkovska, Ombudsperson of Ukraine indicated that "the Ombudsperson Office in close cooperation with civil society institutes is planning to introduce systematic and continuous monitoring the right on access to public information according to the model "Ombudsman Plus", which will help to provide the necessary monitoring the compliance with the right to access to public information in Ukraine".
The discussion on legal and organisational aspects of classifying information and on urgency of legislative changes preventing unjustified classifying and closure of information was also very animated. The participation of the leading experts of the Council of Europe such as Toby Mendel (Canada), Nataša Pirch Musar (Slovenia) and Dmytro Kotlyar (Ukraine) contributed to the sharing the best international practices on the discussed issues and providing recommendations on possible ways to improve some of the provisions of the Concept paper and the legislation in general.
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