The Agency for Personal Data Protection and Free Access to Information (hereinafter referred to as: “the Agency”) was given competences in the area of free access to information with adoption of the 2012 Amendments to the Law on Free Access to Information. Since then, this second-instance body is an autonomous and independent body with a key control role in the area of free access to information in Montenegro.
The Agency’s new legal obligations required a number of changes in terms of adjusting to the new normative frameworks for its functioning, then adjusting to organizational structure and human capacity, followed by the need for different financial resources and, finally, adjusting in the area of software solutions necessary for work in the new area.
The need for achieving a satisfactory level of capacities of the Agency was highlighted in the European Commission Progress Reports on Montenegro.
Thus, in the 2014 Report, the EC indicated that the electronic database of published decisions could be improved and made more user-friendly.
Next year, the EC reported that the Agency does not have sufficient capacity to deal with the increasing number of complaints it is receiving, and that administrative silence is a major issue, causing nearly 50 % of complaints from the public. In the 2018 Report, the European Commission noted That the capacity of the Agency was strengthened, but its 2017 budget was only increased slightly as well as that administrative silence by the public administration remains a concern and a major cause of citizens’ complaints.
In order to find out to what extent the Agency is able to respond to legal obligations in the area of free access to information, MANS has conducted a comprehensive analysis of the Agency’s existing capacities. To this end, the normative framework for work of the Agency was analysed, which represents the institutional basis for its work; then the organizational structure of the Agency with the capacities of employees, who should respond to the tasks prescribed by law; budget analysis was carried out as a reflection of financial capacity and; analysis of the software, without which efficiency, no system with large databases, such as the Agency’s system, can work.
Methodologically, the Analysis was carried out by combining desk research of documentation proactively published by the Agency as well as documentation submitted to MANS on request. The Analysis also involved processing of qualitative data obtained through the interviews conducted by MANS with two members of the Council, representatives of the Administrative Court, the Ministry of Public Administration and the media in Montenegro.
It is important to note here that MANS initiated interviews with the President of the Council, Muhamed Gjokaj, as well as the Head of the Department for Access to Information within the Agency, Biljana Božić. However, until the day of making this analysis they did not provide answers to our questions. Quotations of other interviewees are listed below.
Complete analysis download HERE (PDF)
