Operation “For printing!”

The Alliance “Maydan” continues its action for declassification (publication) of normative-legal acts concealed under various restricting classifications.

In the framework of the committee hearings, organized by the Supreme Council committee on legal policy, the work group in charge of questions of access to information (with participation of representatives of the Alliance “Maydan”) prepared corresponding recommendations. The recommendations were agreed and passed to the Committee. Now the draft is prepared of the Resolution of the Supreme Council of Ukraine on taking into account of the recommendations.

In what follows we present the text of these recommendations.

Recommendations prepared by the participants of the work group in charge of questions of access to information:

1.  To the Supreme Council of Ukraine:

To consider the introduction of changes into the Civil-Procedural Code, Criminal-Procedural Code and Economic-Procedural Code providing the possibility of the access to court decisions not only for the sides in the case, but for any interested person.

Protection of the commercial secrets in economic and civil proceedings must be provided by way of handing proper petitions during consideration of cases.

To regulate in legislation the procedure of the access of advocate to state secrets in case of realization by him of defense from criminal accusation.

To reconsider the norms of Article 15 of the Law of Ukraine “On state secrets” in order to envisage classification only of the texts containing state secrets, but not the documents as a whole.

To envisage the function of control by ombudsperson over the observance of individual’s right for the access to information with the aim to make impossible the illegal concealment of information. The decisions of ombudsperson on declassification of information must be obligatory for fulfillment.

Conclusions of the Supreme Council committees concerning law drafts must be published on the website of the Supreme Council of Ukraine.

Information on the activities of all committees of the Supreme Council of Ukraine must be accessible on the website of the Supreme Council of Ukraine.

Conclusions on law drafts, which are officially directed for international expertise, must be made public.

To consider the possibility of introduction of changes into the Law of Ukraine “On ombudsperson”.

2.  To the Calculation Chamber of Ukraine:

To place, in proper time, on its website the information on the results of all checks realized by it. The information about the reaction of power organs to the published reports must be also accessible.

3.  To ombudsperson of Ukraine:

To place on the website the electronic blank for citizens’ appeals. To publish regularly the information on reaction of the ombudsperson to the appeals.

4.  To the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine:

To prepare and present for consideration of the Supreme Council new version of the Law of Ukraine “On information”. In particular, this law must:

Envisage publication of all court decisions in Ukraine by means of creation of unified state database with open access through the Internet and with the search system. Restrict publication of only that parts of the decisions, which contain the information considered at closed court sitting in on the grounds stipulated by law. Establish possible restrictions in interests of protection of privacy of the participants of legal proceedings.

Envisage the special type of information with the restricted access – “service secret” (instead of “confidential information owned by state”), which will have classification “for service use only”, create the open register of such documents. To establish direct prohibition of restricting classifications, which are not stipulated by law. All questions connected with use of this restricting classification must be regulated in the law draft “On service secrets”.

Determine the maximal term for reconsideration of all informational materials, which contain service secrets. Form the complete list of such informational items (except the drafts of decisions), which should be accessible for public. After this term all information not included into the list of service secrets must be regarded as open.

Envisage creation of state registers of all documents with open access disposed by the organs of state power and local self-government. Determine the amount of information rendered by the organs of state power free of charge and the information, which imply the compensation on the side of the subject of informational request or return of the expenses for copying of the materials.

5.  To state tax administration:

To guarantee publication of all official explanations.

To analyze international experience, in particular the experience of the countries-members of the European Union and Council of Europe on providing the access of public to information.

To realize educational programs for state servants concerning the provisions of the Orgus Convention on the access to information, participation of the community in the process of taking decisions and access to justice in ecological questions.

To conduct educational actions for workers of press-services and PR-departments concerning proper realization of citizens’ right for the access to information and the opportune rendering of informational services.

6.  To State Court Administration:

To create the unified state database with open access through the Internet.

To publish, in particular on the website, the letters-explanations of the Supreme Court of Ukraine and the Supreme Economic Court of Ukraine, as well as Legal positions of the Supreme Court of Ukraine.

To envisage, in the state program of computerization of courts, the improvement of court management with automatized appointment of cases for consideration, creation of websites of Ukrainian courts with information about the cases appointed for consideration.

7.  To the Constitutional Court of Ukraine:

To place on the website not only court decisions, but also procedural resolutions and resolutions on rejection.

8.  To the President of Ukraine:

To cancel the illegal classifications of all normative-legal acts, such as “not for printing”, “not for publishing”, etc.

To abolish Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 493 of 21 May 1998 “On introduction of changes into some President’s decrees on questions of state registration of normative-legal acts”.

9.  To the General Prosecutor’s office of Ukraine:

To register all normative-legal acts of the prosecutor’s office in the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.

To create the open register of all normative acts of the prosecutor’s office and the open database of the normative acts concerning rights and duties of citizens.

10.  To the organs of local self-government:

To create the conditions for familiarization of members of territorial communities with all decisions of the organs of local self-government (in most efficient way depending on the conditions). Where it is possible, to create the websites of the organs of local self-government with the obligatory placement on these sites of the complete register and texts of all approved decisions.

To provide publication and access in the open regime to all decisions of local administrations (on the level of regions and Cities of Kyiv and Sevastopol).

30 May 2005