ACCESS TO GOVERNMENT

INFORMATION
by AIKATERINI YIANNOUKAKOU
MSc in Information Science
PhD cand. on E-Government

What is Government
Information?
The aggregate of the public produced
information
is
called
government
information
NOTE:
docs
on
citizens
baring
personal data as an answer to request
i.e.
birth
certificate
are
not
considered
as
government
information
2 types of government information
Administrative
Non administrative

Adminstrative Information
Every-day
operation
Government
and
Administration itself
Examples:

Legislation
Jurisprudence
Regulations
Census

data
Financial information
Trade statistics

of

the
Public

Non Adminstrative Information

Information collected by government
organisations concerning the outside
world and its not strictly related to
the statutory functions of the
government
Examples:

Geospatial

data
Enterprise registries
Administrative documents

Is government information
important? (1)

The answer to this question is DEFINITELY

YES
WHY

Forms the basis for the execution of

governments operations
Incloses an inherent economic value
Serves as the means to the communication
between government and citizens
Increases accountability and transparency of
public officials and government as a whole
Strengthens democracy by forming better
informed and active citizens

Is government information
important? (2)

WHY

It offers authentic and reliable documentation of the

administrative acts of any organization promoting at the same
time the transparency to and the accountability of public sector
It enables the decision making process, as it is the written
memory for all administrative acts of organizations and public
services
It assists citizens to their communication with the public sector
It contributes to the economic development, as none
entrepreneurial activity can be accomplished without accurate
information on specific subjects and fields
It institutes a unique education system because citizens can be
taught the history and the general context of public
administration issues from objective and reliable resources.

Access to government
information

It is a democratic right of every citizen to be

able to access information regarding the
records kept by the government for the
citizen as well as to information concerning
the activities of public officials
When the next municipality councils
meeting is scheduled and which are the
issues on the agenda?
How much money did a Ministry spent on a
specific occasion?
Which are the requirements for
participating to a given public tender?

Barriers to access government

information

National security, defense or public

security
Copyright & patents issues
Legislation
Inherent nature of bureaucracies to be
secretive
Information dispersed in different levels
of government
Lack of resources for equal
dissemination

Government information & egovernment

The use of ICTs in public administration

has radically changed the way
government information is being
produced, transmitted, stored and made
accessible
Tendency for more open and transparent
governments that guarantees increased
access to government information
Web use to access government
information

Government information
access in Greece

Law 2690/1999 Article 5

right to access the administrative documents of

any public service
access to personal documents of an entity held in
any public service is granted ONLY to the
individual with legitimate right

Law 3448/2006

Defines the framework for the re-use of public

sector information
Specific reference for using electronic means for
dissemination
Harmonises greek legislation with the EU
Directive 2003/98/EC