Right to Information
The right to information is a fundamental right. Article 23 of the Constitution of Albania states:
1. The right to information is a guaranteed right.
2. Everyone has the right, in accordance with the law, to receive information about the activities of state bodies and persons exercising state functions.
3. Everyone is given the opportunity to attend meetings of elected collective bodies.
The right to information is also specifically regulated by Law 119/2014 "On the right to information on official documents", which states:
1. Every person has the right to access public information.
2. The public authority is obliged to inform the requester whether or not it has the requested information in its possession.
3. Every person has the right to be acquainted with public information, through the original document or by receiving a copy of it in a form or format that allows full access to the content of the document.
4. Public information that has been provided to a person may not be refused to any other person who requests it, except in the case when the information contains personal data of the subject, in accordance with Article 17 of this law.
“The limitations of this right are regulated by Law No. 9887, dated 10.03.2008, “On the Protection of Personal Data”, as amended, and by Law No. 8457, dated 11.02.1999, “On Classified State Secret Information”.
Coordinator for the right to information: Vilma HYSENI
Adress: Neighborhood No. 1, “LIRIA” Square, DURRES
E-mail: vilma.hyseni@durres.gov.al
Official hours: 8:00 – 16:00
Competences of the coordinator for the right to information
For the implementation of this law, in order to coordinate the work to guarantee the right to information, the public authority shall appoint one of its employees as a coordinator for the right to information.
The Coordinator for the Right to Information exercises the following powers:
a) provides every applicant with the right to access public information, under this law, by consulting the original document or by obtaining a copy thereof;
b) creates, maintains, publishes and updates the register of requests and responses within the deadline provided for in point 1 of Article 8 of this law;
c) coordinates the work to fulfill requests for information within the deadlines and in the manner provided for in this law;
ç) records requests for information and assigns a serial number to each of them;
d) sends the request for information to another public authority, within the deadlines provided for in this law, when it turns out that the public authority where the request was submitted does not possess the requested information;
dh) verifies cases for the free provision of information to citizens, as provided for in point 5, Article 13, of this law;
e) carries out preliminary notifications, according to Articles 14 and 15 of this law, and communicates with the requester, as necessary for the handling of the request for public information.
Restriction of the right to information:
1. The right to information may be restricted if it is necessary, proportionate and if the provision of information harms the following interests:
a) the right to a private life;
b) trade secret;
c) copyright;
d) patents.
The restriction of the right to information, due to the interests provided for in letters “a”, “b”, “c” and “ç”, of this point, shall not apply when the holder of these rights has given his/her consent to the provision of the relevant information or when at the time of provision of the information he/she is considered a public authority based on the provisions of this law. Notwithstanding what is provided for in this point, the requested information shall not be refused if there is an overriding public interest in its provision.
2. The right to information is restricted if it is necessary, proportionate and if the provision of information causes a clear and serious harm to the following interests:
a) national security, as defined by the legislation on classified information;
b) prevention, investigation and prosecution of criminal offences;
c) the progress of the administrative investigation within the framework of a disciplinary proceeding;
ç) the progress of inspection and audit procedures of public authorities;
d) the formulation of the state's monetary and fiscal policies;
dh) equality of parties in a judicial process and the proper conduct of the judicial process;
e) prior consultation and discussion within or between public authorities for the development of public policies;
ë) the conduct of international or intergovernmental relations. Notwithstanding the provisions of the first paragraph of point 2 of this article, the requested information shall not be refused if there is an overriding public interest in providing it. The restriction on the right to information, due to the interest provided for in point 2, letters “c” and “ç”, of this article, shall not apply when the administrative investigation, within the framework of a disciplinary proceeding, and the inspection and audit procedures of public authorities have been completed. The restriction on the right to information, due to the interest provided for in point 2, letters “d” and “dh”, of this article, shall not apply when the relevant data are facts, analysis of facts, technical data or statistical data. The restriction on the right to information, due to the interest provided for in point 2, letter “e”, of this article, shall not apply after the policies have been made public.
3. The right to information is limited, if necessary, proportionate and if the dissemination of information would violate professional secrecy guaranteed by law.
4. The right to information is also limited when, despite the assistance provided by the public authority, the request remains unclear and it becomes impossible to identify the requested information.
5. The right to information is not automatically denied when the requested information is contained in documents classified as “state secret”. In this case, the public authority to which the request for information has been sent shall immediately initiate the classification review procedure with the public authority that ordered the classification, in accordance with Law No. 8457, dated 11.2.1999, “On information classified as “state secret”, as amended. The public authority shall immediately notify the applicant of the initiation of the classification review procedure, in accordance with the law, and shall decide to extend the deadline for providing the information within 30 working days. In any case, the decision to treat or not the request for information shall be taken and justified on the basis of the criteria of this Article.
6. If the restriction affects only part of the requested information, the remaining part shall not be refused to the applicant. The public authority shall clearly indicate the parts of the relevant documentation that have been refused, as well as the basis for which point of this Article this refusal was made.
7. The provisions of this article also apply to access to archival information of any type, regardless of the provisions of the law on archives.