Freedom of information is one of the pillars of democratic governance: society can control the exercise of power only when it knows what that power is doing. The chapter on freedom of information in the General Administrative Code of Georgia builds a complete system of access to public information — it defines the participating notions, the public character of sessions, the public registry, the procedure for requesting information and obtaining copies, the conditions and terms of classification, an exhaustive list of information that may never be classified, and the remedies for a violated right. This page explains that system in detail.
Basic Notions: To Whom the Regime Applies
The Code first fixes its vocabulary. A public institution is an administrative organ, and also a private-law legal person financed from the state or municipal budget — within the limits of such financing. A collegial public institution is one whose head or deliberative body consists of more than one person and in which decisions are jointly adopted or prepared by more than one person; a member of such an institution is a public servant who participates, with voting rights, in the adoption or preparation of decisions. A session is the discussion of a matter by the members for the purpose of adopting or preparing a decision in the name of the institution.
Publication means the entry of public information into the public registry in the manner established by law and the securing of its accessibility to society, as well as proactive publication — the placement, under a procedure set by a subordinate normative act, of public information carrying public interest on electronic resources. A public database is data systematically collected, processed and stored by a public institution or public servant. The chapter separately defines executive privilege — the release of public institutions and public servants from the duties provided for by this chapter — and urgent necessity, meaning the threat of a violation of legislation or a situation in which the functioning of public institutions faces a real threat in a democratic society. Relations connected with personal data are regulated by a separate law of Georgia on the protection of personal data.
Public Sessions and the Rules of Publication
Every collegial public institution is obliged to conduct its sessions openly and publicly, except for the cases provided for by legislation. The guarantee of openness operates in advance: the institution is obliged to publicly announce, one week beforehand, the forthcoming session, its venue, time and agenda — and where a decision is taken to close the session, to announce the closure as well.
The publication rule reaches secret information too. After the removal of the material assigned to secrecy, any separable part of secret public information, and of the minutes of a closed session of a collegial public institution, must be published within reasonable limits. In such a case the publication indicates the person who classified the information, the ground on which the information was deemed secret, and the term of classification — preserving a trace of who declared the information secret, why, and for how long.
The Public Registry, Accessibility and Copies
A public institution is obliged to enter the public information existing in it into the public registry. A reference to public information must be entered in the registry within 2 days of its receipt, creation, processing or issuance — indicating the name of the information, the dates of those actions, and the name of the natural or legal person, public servant or public institution from whom the information was received or to whom it was sent. In this way a surveyable map of the institution's holdings is created.
Accessibility must also be organised. A public institution is obliged to designate the public servant responsible for securing the accessibility of public information and for its proactive publication. The institution is obliged to secure the accessibility of copies of public information as well, and it is impermissible to impose any kind of fee for the issuance of public information, apart from the reimbursement of the amount necessary for making the copy — the information itself is free.