Freedom of Information Conference

On January 1, 2010, the Federal Law of February 9, 2009 No. 8-FZ “On ensuring access to information on the activities of state bodies and local self-government bodies” 1 came into force in the Russian Federation .

The adoption of this law was and is important for creating conditions in Russia under which government bodies should become more open and accessible to citizens, and therefore accountable to society.

Even in documents such as the “Doctrine of Information Security of the Russian Federation” dated September 9, 2000 2 and “Strategy for the Development of the Information Society in the Russian Federation” dated February 7, 2008 No. Pr-212 3 , approved by the President of the Russian Federation, it was noted that the current situation affairs in the country requires urgent solutions to such problems as improving the regulatory legal framework, including mechanisms for realizing the rights of citizens to receive information and access it. Thus, ensuring guaranteed free access of citizens to information was designated as one of the most important tasks of the state.

These circumstances served as the basis for the adoption of the Federal Law “On Ensuring Access to Information on the Activities of State Bodies and Local Self-Government Bodies ,” which for the first time established a detailed mechanism for citizens to exercise their right to access information about the activities of state bodies and local self-government bodies.

This law, for the first time at the level of federal legislation, established the obligation of authorities to post information about their activities on the Internet (clause 2 of Article 6, Article 10 of the law) and, moreover, established a minimum list of information required for posting by authorities on this network (Article 13 and 14 laws).

According to paragraph 1 of Article 1 of the said federal law, “information on the activities of state bodies and local self-government bodies” is “information (including documented) created within the limits of their powers by state bodies, their territorial bodies, local government bodies or organizations subordinate to state bodies, local government bodies (hereinafter referred to as subordinate organizations), or received by these bodies and organizations.”

However, the enforcement of the first years of the law’s life was problematic: this situation will be considered at the Conference by representatives of the Higher School working in legal clinics in Russia.

The Kaluga region will be represented at the Conference by the legal clinic of the Kaluga branch of the Moscow Institute of Humanities and Economics.