Are you dissatisfied with the actions of the authorities in your right to access to information case?

If you have not received an answer within 15 days you can:

a) Send a response to the public authority urging them to respond, and at the same time you can initiate proceedings with the Information Commissioner (see below point (b) or (c)).
b) At the end of the 15-day period, if the body has not responded, you can send a complaint to the Information Commissioner.
c) At any time you can send a motion to the Information Commissioner.

If you did not get all the information you were looking for you can:

Send a response to the public authority and ask for a supplement to the provided information. Then the body has a new deadline of 15 days to respond.

If your request is rejected without valid reason you can:

a) Within 15 days from the expiration of the response deadline, you can initiate a complaint procedure with the Information Commissioner.
b) You can send a representation to the Information Commissioner at any time, even outside the user's appeal deadline.
c) Submit a new request asking for specific information from that authority or select another public authority that is responsible for the information you are looking for.
d) Or use some other way of searching for information.

For more information about deadlines, read in what time frame will your request be resolved?

Using public authorities #

Under the request on the page Imamo pravo znati, find and select "request an urgent report". Then write a message asking for your request to be resolved as soon as possible. It would also be good to put a link to the request page so that the officer knows exactly which request it is.

Despite the sent urgent notice, when the body did not respond within the legal deadline, you can file a parallel complaint with the Information Commissioner, or send a motion because the body did not meet the response deadline. See below for details.

Protection of the right to access information #

The task of the Information Commissioner is to protect your right to access to information, monitor the implementation of the Law on the Right to Access to Information and publicly promote the right to access to information and re-use of information guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia.

Although the Information Commissioner requests that you attach your request to the complaint, they will duly accept complaints received electronically where instead of an attachment a link to the request at Imamo pravo znati is provided in order to have evidence of the entire correspondence history related to the request. If you still want to download the entire correspondence and files, use the download option from the "Actions" menu on the request page, which will initiate a download of the .zip file.

Imamo pravo znati currently does not have the option to send a complaint to the Information Commissioner. We advise you to leave a comment on your request to inform people about the progress of your case. At the same time, it will be of great help to you to have all the dates and the entire history of solving your case in one place. You can save the Information Commissioner's decision on one of the existing file sharing services such as Google Drive or One Drive, and you can share the link to the decision file via a comment on the request.

Although the Information Commissioner is working hard to reduce the number of pending cases, in many cases it can take several months or even longer to resolve an appeal.

If you come to the point where you need to start a second instance procedure with the Information Commissioner, accept the fact that you will not get the requested information quickly. If you are fighting for better access to information, then it is worth filing a complaint and waiting for the outcome of the second instance procedure, at the end of which you will still (sometimes and after a long time) get the requested information. You can also try to get information in other ways...

How can I protect my right if a public authority has refused or rejected my request? Can I complain to someone? #

Like any right, your right to access information is protected by due process.

You can file an appeal with the Information Commissioner against the decision of the public authority that rejects or rejects the request for access to information.

The deadline for submitting an appeal is 15 days from the date of receipt of the decision. If the last day of the deadline falls on a Sunday or a non-working day, the next working day is counted as the last day of the deadline.

If the body has informed you that the information has been made public, that you have already received the information, and 90 days have not passed since the previous request, that the Law on the Right to Access to Information does not apply to your submission, or that the considers to be a request, and you believe that in the cases mentioned this is not true, you can submit an objection to the head of the public authority body, which you will then have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner.

What if the public authority does not respond to my request? #

You can submit a complaint to the Information Commissioner even when the public authority does not decide on your request within 15 days, or within a total of 30 days if it extended the deadline for decision. A situation in which a public authority has not reacted at all to your request or delays the procedure, is called silence of the administration.

We recommend that you wait a day or two after the deadline before filing an appeal, due to the possibility that the authority will send you a decision or information by mail.

In the event that the public authority has not issued a prescribed decision rejecting or rejecting your request, but has only informed you informally that it is denying you information for some reason, insist on making a decision.

What should the complaint contain and how is it submitted? #

The complaint should contain your information (name, surname and address, i.e. name of legal entity and registered office) and must be signed (in person, or by an authorized person, if it is a legal entity). If you submit it electronically and you do not have an electronic signature, you can scan the signed complaint and send it electronically. Your address or registered office of the legal entity is necessary so that the Commissioner can deliver his decision to you.

In the appeal, you should state the decision you are disputing, the name of the public authority that made the decision, and the reasons for which you are dissatisfied with the decision.

Some bodies publish the form for filing a complaint on their websites, and you can always find it on the Commissioner's official website for information.

As a rule, the complaint is submitted through the public authority to which you initially addressed the request for access to information. If you make a complaint directly to the Information Commissioner, please note that the complaint will first be returned to the public authority for consideration, thereby prolonging the process.

We recommend that you request a confirmation of receipt of the appeal.

When can I expect the decision of the Information Commissioner? #

The Information Commissioner conducts the appeal procedure (second instance procedure) determining all the circumstances of the case, asking for clarifications and information from public authorities, and may request additional clarifications from you as a user.

The basic deadline for resolving an appeal is 30 days.

The deadlines are longer in two cases: if for the resolution it is necessary to examine or carry out a proportionality and public interest test, then the deadline is 60 days; if it is necessary to seek the opinion of the Office of the National Security Council and it is about classified information, the deadline for resolution is 90 days.

The commissioner submits his decision through the public authority from which the information was requested.

What kind of decision can I expect from the Information Commissioner? #

The Information Commissioner may uphold your appeal, in whole or in part.

If the Commissioner after the procedure that includes the inspection of the requested information, assesses that the appeal is founded, will order the public authority to provide you with access to the requested information, and will set an appropriate deadline for this. It can conclude that your appeal is founded in one part, while the public authority is right in the other part. In that case, they will confirm those parts of the decision of the public authority that are legal, while in the remaining part they will cancel it and order the authority to provide you with access to the information. The information commissioner can also order the authority to carry out the procedure again.

The commissioner can also make a decision that your appeal is completely unfounded. In that case, the decision of the public authority will be confirmed by a decision. If you believe that the Commissioner is wrong, you still have the option of initiating an administrative dispute before the High Administrative Court, as well as in the case where the Commissioner only partially accepts your appeal.

In the event of an appeal due to the administration's silence, the Information Commissioner protects your right to access information in such a way that he will ask the authority that did not act within the legal deadline to provide a statement on the reasons for not acting, and urge him to do so. If the authority still does not comply with the submitted request, the Information Commissioner will order the public authority to resolve your request in accordance with the provisions of the Law on the Right to Access to Information.

In the event that the body has in the meantime provided the requested information, please inform the Information Commissioner about this so that the procedure can be completed (by e-mail, telephone or in writing).

In the event that you did not file a complaint in a timely manner, the Commissioner for Information will reject the complaint by decision.

What can I do if I am dissatisfied with the Commissioner's decision or my appeal was not decided on time? #

Against the decision of the Commissioner for Information or in case of a silence, so if he does not decide on your appeal within the specified deadlines, you can initiate an administrative dispute before the High Administrative Court of the Republic of Croatia. Administrative and court fees are not paid for citizens' administrative disputes before the High Administrative Court.

A public authority can also initiate an administrative dispute against the Commissioner's decision. The High Administrative Court must decide on the lawsuit within 90 days.

FOI motion #

You can contact the Commissioner also address a motion and thus warn that public authorities are not transparent to the extent or in the manner prescribed by the Law on the Right to Access to Information (for example, they do not publish on their websites the information prescribed by the Law, they often resolve requests outside the prescribed deadlines, they do not ensure the publicness of sessions formal working bodies or do not conduct consultations with the public). On the basis of the allegations in your motion, the Commissioner may conduct an inspection of the public authority, during which he will identify failures to fulfill obligations under the Act and order measures to correct them.

Protection of the right to reuse information #

Reuse of information is the use of information of a public authority by natural or legal persons (citizens, associations, academic community, private sector) for commercial or non-commercial purposes that are different from the original purpose for which the information is collected within the framework of public work.

Can I protect my right to reuse information? #

In the event that a public authority refuses or rejects your request to reuse information , you can file a complaint with the Information Commissioner. Also, if the public authority does not decide on your request, you can file an appeal due to the administration's silence.

The rules that apply to the appeal procedure for the denial of the right to access to information are applied to the appeal procedure. An appeal against the Commissioner's decision is not allowed, but an administrative dispute can be initiated before the High Administrative Court of the Republic of Croatia.

You can find forms for submitting a complaint related to the reuse of information on the official website of the Information Commissioner.

Protection of access to information according to special regulations #

The Commissioner for Information, in addition to general competence, is also an appeal body in case of denial of information about the environment, in accordance with the Law on Environmental Protection (Official Gazette 80/13, 153/13, 78/15 , 12/18). Information about the environment is of exceptional public interest, directly related to the protection of human health, sustainable development and the quality of life of future generations. Therefore, the ability to access environmental information directly affects the public's right to participate in decision-making on certain activities related to environmental protection issues, which is a significant tool that gives citizens the right to be active participants in the creation of public policies related to environmental protection.

The Commissioner is designated by the Law on Archival Materials and Archives (Official Gazette 61/18) as the competent authority in the matter of the availability of public archival materials. Namely, the Commissioner represents a second instance body in the process of approving access to material that is not publicly available in the sense of the aforementioned Act, therefore, against the decision of the state archive and the JLP(R)S archive, you can submit an appeal to the Commissioner within 15 days from the delivery of the decision.

Use another way to search for information #

You can try to solve the problem of accessing information or research on other ways.

Submit a new request in which you request a list of documents or information that is directly or indirectly related to the material that the authority refused to give you. Or ask here for ideas.
If another body is connected, you can try to send them a request for access to information.
Write to representatives in Parliament or other politicians and ask them for help in finding information. Members of Parliament can officially request information from public authorities, and the authorities cannot refuse them! Representatives in local assemblies and councils also have the power to obtain information through official channels from the local self-government in which they represent you, the citizens.
Try ask for information from the European Union. Every citizen and resident of the European Union has a legally guaranteed right to request information from the EU authorities. AskTheEU.org is a version of this page for requesting information from European Union institutions.
Ask other researchers who are interested in a similar topic to yours for help. Sometimes you can find them by browsing this page; contact any registered user from their profile page. There may be an online forum or group where you can find like-minded researchers.
You can set up a small local campaign group and arrange a meeting with employees from public authorities. That way they will take you more seriously.

Source statement: This page is based on Right to Information publications, and parts of the original text are taken from Information Commissioner.