IS INFORMATION PROACTIVELY PUBLISHED IN EUROPE?

WE RESEARCHED 41 DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES IN 12 JURISDICTIONS.
HERE’S WHAT WE FOUND

ONLY 20% OF INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE

European countries are not proactively publishing information about who public officials meet with any reasons justifying their decisions nor records created regarding policy and legislation, impeding public participation and scrutiny of decision making processes.

WAS THE INFORMATION WE LOOKED FOR PROACTIVELY PUBLISHED?


THE RESULTS IN DETAIL:
DOCUMENT-BY-DOCUMENT

WHAT TYPE OF DOCUMENTS DID WE LOOK FOR?

We focused on types of documents we believe to be relevant when trying to follow and understand a specific decision-making process.
This is the kind of information we searched for:

PROACTIVE PUBLICATION COUNTRY-BY-COUNTRY

Find below the results of our analysis on the state of proactive publication in these 12 European jurisdictions. Keep scrolling to find more details per country: what kind of information we looked for, what we managed to find proactively published, and what we didn’t.

Austria

We looked for information regarding FOI law amendments, awards of honorary titles, pesticides legislation, tobacco law and copyright.

WAS THE INFORMATION PROACTIVELY PUBLISHED?

90% of information was not proactivelly published!

Find out a bit more…

Croatia

We looked for information regarding Catholic Church exemptions, tenders for oil exploitation and conversion of citizen's credits to Euros.

WAS THE INFORMATION PROACTIVELY PUBLISHED?

64% of information was not proactivelly published!

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European Union

We looked for information regarding the adoption of a mandatory lobby register at the EU level.

WAS THE INFORMATION PROACTIVELY PUBLISHED?

50% of information was not proactivelly published!

Find out a bit more…

Finland

We looked for information regarding the adoption of a mandatory lobby register at the EU level.

WAS THE INFORMATION PROACTIVELY PUBLISHED?

81% of information was not proactivelly published!

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Germany

We looked for information regarding CO2 limits, minimum wage, pharma laws, inheritance taxes and pension reform.

WAS THE INFORMATION PROACTIVELY PUBLISHED?

100% of information was not proactivelly published!

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Greece

We looked for information regarding open data and access to information, civil partnership and business licensing simplification.

WAS THE INFORMATION PROACTIVELY PUBLISHED?

60% of information was not proactivelly published!

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Ireland

We looked for information regarding the FOI Act, legislation on policing authorities and miscellaneous and tobacco legislation.

WAS THE INFORMATION PROACTIVELY PUBLISHED?

69% of information was not proactivelly published!

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Italy

We looked for information regarding the budget law, prorogations decree and reform of the educational system.

WAS THE INFORMATION PROACTIVELY PUBLISHED?

0% of information was not proactivelly published!

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Poland

We looked for information regarding re-use of public sector information, public procurement legislation and infertility treatment legislation.

WAS THE INFORMATION PROACTIVELY PUBLISHED?

53% of information was not proactivelly published!

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Slovenia

We looked for information regarding telecommunications companies privatisation, Family Code proposal and legislation on net neutrality.

WAS THE INFORMATION PROACTIVELY PUBLISHED?

57% of information was not proactivelly published!

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Spain

We looked for information regarding plans on companies and human rights, own electricity supply and production regulation and Open Government Partnership action plans.

WAS THE INFORMATION PROACTIVELY PUBLISHED?

100% of information was not proactivelly published!

Find out a bit more…

United Kingdom

We looked for information regarding the Trade Unions Bill, public subsidies for wind farms, Heathrow airport expansion and investigatory powers legislation.

WAS THE INFORMATION PROACTIVELY PUBLISHED?

75% of information was not proactivelly published!

Find out a bit more…

RECOMMENDATIONS ON PROACTIVE PUBLICATION

  • Publish agendas with comprehensive information
Public officials should publish their agendas or diaries proactively with full information about meetings held and attended, and the names of who they meet.
  • Keep and publish a record of minutes of meetings
ublic authorities should ensure that records of their actions and minutes of meetings are created and published to ensure accountability and public scrutiny.
  • Publish lobbyists’ and interest groups’ contributions
Public authorities should proactively publish all third-party documents received, including documents submitted as part of, or separate to, public consultations.
  • Publish documents justifying the decision
Information or documents justifying the reasons why particular decisions are taken should be published promptly and proactively.