Report of 2014 on the situation of issuing public information in the Administration of the Government of Georgia in accordance with the requirements of Article 49 of the General Administrative Code of Georgia
In the reporting period, Administration of the Government of Georgia was conducting its activities in accordance with the requirements of the norms of General Administrative Code of Georgia.
Requests concerning the issuance of public information generally referred to orders of Georgian Prime Minister, resolutions and decrees of the Government of Georgia, minutes of meeting of the Government of Georgia, official correspondence, decisions made in response to reviewing of applications of citizens.
In total 314 written applications (including two cases on the request to make amendments into the information issued initially) on issuance of public information were registered during the reporting period of the year 2014, among them 277 requests were responded by the Administration of the Government of Georgia (including 23 cases where applicants were clarified that the requested public information, was not the public information kept in the Administration of the Government of Georgia, and responses on three applications were sent from the Administration of the Government in delay with respect to the deadlines fixed under the General Administrative Code of Georgia); 31 applications were sent to the relevant authorized administrative body pursuant to Article 80 of the abovementioned code; Decisions on the refusal of requesting of public information were made in 3 cases. In making the decisions Administration of the Government of Georgia was guiding with the laws of Georgia "on Personal Data Protection" and "on State Secrecy"; Currently 3 applications are being processed.
Officials of the Administration of the Government were making the decisions on the refusal to satisfy the request of public information, taking into account the position of the Legal Department on the basis of General Administrative Code and the Current Law. In the Administration of the Government of Georgia the officials responsible to ensure availability of public information, who were responding on the requested information within the scopes of their competence are defined under the relevant legal act.
Negative decisions on issuing public information were appealed twice. In one case complaint was withdrawn by the claimant, and the second claim is being processed by the Chamber of Administrative Cases of Tbilisi City Court. Expenses related to the appeal of the decision, including obligation to reimburse the party is not upon the Administration of the Government of Georgia. Administration of the Government of Georgia while issuing the public information was guiding with the Law of Georgia "on Public Information Copy Fees" and Order N275 of the Head of Chancellery of the Government of Georgia of 14 June 2013 "on Determining Minimum Amount of Public Information to be Issued without Fees".
The Government of Georgia has a database, where personal data of the employees are stored and the relevant structural units have access to it within the scopes of their competences.
There were no cases imposing disciplinary fines for violation of the requirements of General Administrative Code by the responsible employees of the Administration of the Government of Georgia.
Pursuant to Article 12 of the Law of Georgia "on Structure, Authority and Rules of Operation of the Government of Georgia" and Government Regulations, the meetings of the Government of Georgia generally are closed. Therefore during the reporting period meetings of the Government of Georgia were conducted under the procedure established by the law. The decision on holding a meeting of the Government of Georgia publicly was not made.
Herewith, agendas and decisions of the meetings of the Government of Georgia are systematically published on the web page of the Government of Georgia. After each meeting of the Government briefings of the members of the Government are being held. Within the scopes of the "Open Governance" - initiative of the Government of Georgia press conferences of the Prime Minister and Ministers on particular agencies of the Government have been systematically conducted.
For the purposes of availability of information and its proactive publication, relevant field for the public information is created on the web page of the Government of Georgia, where public information on the activities of the Administration of the Government is published in accordance with the requirements of Georgian Legislation. Following to the survey conducted by IDFI in November 2014 on the publication of proactive information, Administration of the Government of Georgia showed 100% rate of publishing information. Information on changes and reforms in various fields during two years conducted by the Government of Georgia is published on the web page.