Implications of including the right to acess public sector information in the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia

Abstract

Promjenom Ustava Republike Hrvatske iz 2010. u ustavni je tekst izrijekom uvršteno jamstvo prava na pristup infor- macijama u posjedu tijela javne vlasti. Tim povodom analiziraju se osnovne teorijske postavke o regulaciji prava na pristup informacijama, obrazloženje Prijedloga promjene Ustava, novosti do kojih je doš lo u normiranju pretpostavki za ograničenje navedenog prava, odnos s ustavnim pravom na sigurnost i tajnost osobnih podataka te poziciju spram ostalih ustavnih prava i sloboda, kao i utjecaj novih ustav- nih odredbi na važeće zakonodavstvo na području informacijskoga upravnog prava. Izričito ustavno normiranje bitno je izmijenilo »regulacijsku perspektivu« na području prava na pristup informacijama javnog sektora. Do donošenja Promjene Ustava, sadržaj tog prava bio je ograničen na ono što je izrijekom normira- no u (međusobno često neusklađenim) zakonima. Novim stavkom 4. u članku 38. Ustava pravo na pristup informacijama javnog sektora (osim pristupa osobnim podacima) postavljeno je kao opće pravilo, koje zakonom može biti samo ograničeno, uz Ustavom propisane pretpostavke.Amendments to the Croatian Constitution of 2010 have explicitly introduced guarantees of the right to access public sector information into the constitutional text. Consequently, the author analyses basic theoretical principles about the regulation of the right to access information and argumentation of the Proposal of Amendments to the Constitution. The analysis continues with the novelties that resulted from regulating the prerequisites for limitations of the mentioned right, its relations with constitutional right to security and confidentiality of personal data, and its position in relation to the other constitutional rights and freedoms. It also deals with the influence of new constitutional provisions on current information legislation. Explicit constitutional regulation has brought significant changes to »regulatory perspective« in the field of access to public sector information. Before the Amendments, the right to access public sector information was limited to what was explicitly enacted in (often uncoordinated) pieces of legislation. The new Subsection 4 of Article 38 of the Constitution has regulated the right to access public sector information (with exception of the right to access personal data) as a general rule, which may be only limited by the law under prerequisites regulated in the Constitutio