Public coalition to be created in Ukraine to assist in work with official information requests
Kyiv, January 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – A group of public organizations and reporters plan to create a public organization to provide assistance to people in working with official information requests.
The coordinator of the New Citizen Civic Campaign, Svitlana Zalischuk, said at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine agency that a coalition of reporters and public organizations will be created in the near future in order to teach people how to work with information requests. She explained that the group would hold relevant training sessions for state officials, journalists, including those in regions, render legal support to people in these issues, and to assist in various cases.
Taras Shevchenko, the director of the Institute for Media Law, in turn, said that the adopted law has many novelties that will improve the procedure for gaining access to information. In particular, under this law, a 30-day term for answering an official request is replaced with a five-day term, which will have a positive effect on conducting journalist investigations. In addition, the clause on accreditation was improved, and a list of agencies that come within the scope of the law was increased.
The Ukrainian parliament passed the law on access to public information along with amendments to some laws regarding the provision of access to public information on January 13, 2011.