At its regular meeting on February 6, the Slovak Cabinet will again debate a proposed amendment to the Freedom of Information Act. The Good Law on Access to Information civil association fears the meeting will result in more restrictions on information.
The initiative requested in a letter delivered to the Cabinet on February 5 that it not move the amendment forward in parliament, and withdraw it if MPs add language that restricts or complicates this right.
However, Justice Minister Štefan Harabin denied the request, saying that MPs have a right as elected officials to change laws.
The activists submitted a collective objection and the Slovak Association of Towns and Villages (ZMOS) has also expressed its objection.
ZMOS objects to the provision of the amendment that obliges the government to make an extra effort to provide information to citizens with impaired vision or hearing, saying that this is already required by the ban on discrimination. The union also considers the extended deadline for answering a request from a disabled person to be discrimination. SITA
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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