Right of Access to Public Information

Rights of Citizens under the Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public Information”

According to Part 1 of Article 1 of the Law of Ukraine “On Access to Public Information,” public information is defined as information recorded and documented by any means and on any media, which has been obtained or created in the course of the exercise by subjects of authority of their powers as prescribed by current legislation, or which is held by subjects of authority or other holders of public information as defined by this Law.

According to Article 10 of the Law “On Access to Public Information,” every person has the right to:

Be informed during the data collection period, but prior to the start of its use, about what data about them is being collected and for what purpose, how, by whom, and for what purposes such data is used, transferred, or disseminated, except for cases established by law;
Access information about themselves that is being collected and stored;
Request correction of inaccurate, incomplete, or outdated personal information, or the destruction of information about themselves that is collected, used, or stored in violation of the law;
Access, upon court decision, information about other persons if necessary for the exercise and protection of their rights and lawful interests;
Compensation for damage in case of unlawful disclosure of information about them.

According to Article 19 of the Law, a requester has the right to submit a request for information to the information holder regardless of whether the information concerns them personally or not, without the need to explain the reason for the request.

According to the Law “On Access to Public Information,” a response to an information request must be provided no later than five working days from the date of receipt. If the request concerns a large volume of information or requires searching through a significant amount of data, the response deadline may be extended up to 20 working days with justification of such extension.

According to Article 23 of the Law, the requester has the right to appeal against:

Refusal to satisfy an information request;
Delay in satisfying an information request;
Failure to provide a response to an information request;
Provision of unreliable or incomplete information;
Untimely provision of information;
Failure of information holders to publish information as required by Article 15 of the Law;
Other decisions, actions, or inactions of information holders that violate the lawful rights and interests of the requester.

According to Article 23, decisions, actions, or inactions of information holders may be appealed to the head of the information holder, a higher authority, or a court.

Appeals to the court regarding decisions, actions, or inactions of information holders are conducted according to the Code of Administrative Procedure of Ukraine.

Refusal and Deferral of Satisfaction of Requests for Public Information

According to Article 22 of the Law:

An information holder may refuse to satisfy a request in the following cases:
The information holder does not possess and is not obliged, within its competence prescribed by law, to possess the requested information;
The requested information belongs to a category of restricted access information as per Part 2 of Article 6 of this Law;
The requester has not paid the actual costs related to copying or printing as provided by Article 21 of the Law;
The requirements for the information request, as established by Part 5 of Article 19 of the Law, are not met.

A response from the information holder stating that the information can be obtained from publicly accessible sources, or a response that does not address the essence of the request, is considered an unlawful refusal to provide information.

An information holder who does not possess the requested information but knows or should know who does, based on its status or nature of activity, must redirect the request to the appropriate information holder and simultaneously notify the requester. In such cases, the deadline for consideration of the information request starts from the day the proper information holder receives the request.

The refusal to satisfy a request for information must include:

Full name and position of the person responsible for handling the request;
Date of refusal;
Reasoned grounds for refusal;
Procedure for appealing the refusal;
Signature.

The refusal must be provided in writing.

Deferral of satisfaction of an information request is allowed if the requested information cannot be provided within the time limits established by this Law due to force majeure circumstances. The decision to defer must be communicated to the requester in writing with an explanation of the procedure for appealing the decision.

The deferral decision must include: