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As citizens of a democratic state we have the right to influenceto influenceinfluence decisions of local and state authorities. However, in order to be able to do it, we need to be well informed on the actions of these authorities. This is what the right to access public information is for.

Public information is any information on public matters, e.g. all the documents issued by the Sejm or the Senate may be found in appropriate publications (the Official Journal of Laws and the Official Gazette of the Republic of Poland “Monitor Polski”) everyone is able to view and read, especially there are also online versions of these publications. Moreover, all the implementing actsimplementing actsimplementing acts (regulations) issued by members of the Council of Ministers are also public. These documents are publicisedto publicisepublicised in a similar way.

Furthermore, there are court judgements and administrative and normative decisions of local authorities that are important to citizens, because they influence their lives. Additionally, if the citizens are aware of the actions of the authorities, they become more interested in their region and state, and tendto tendtend to engageto engageengage more in the decision‑making process. This way, social capitalsocial capitalsocial capital built and responsibility for their “little homeland” increases.

The main and most important document regulating all citizen’s right and obligations is the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. Naturally, the right to access public information is guaranteed in the Constitution, too.

Another important document that regulates the right to access public information is the Access to Public Information Act of September 6, 2001.

In accordance with the provisionsprovisionprovisions of the Act, we consider public information to be any information about public matters that is subject to disclosuredisclosuredisclosure and re‑use, on the terms set out in the aforementionedaforementionedaforementioned Act.

Public authorities and other entities performing public tasks that are in possession of public information are obliged to make it available.

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Infografika zatytułowana "What information is published in BIP?". Jej treść jest następująca: The level of income and possible state of indebtedness. The manner and order of settling cases. The manner of establishing and exercising rights. Information on job offers in the public authorities bodies, specifying the scope of competences of potential candidates and how to apply for employment. Rules of the competition for higher posts in the civil service.

The implementation of the legal regulations containedto containcontained in the Act should allow every citizen to be convincedto convinceconvinced of the transparency of public authorities at all levels and give the possibility to control the officials. Therefore, basic personal details (name and surname) of the officials to whom we apply for decisions are also disclosedto disclosedisclosed. It is possible to obtain information on how individual deputies and senators voted in particular matters. The voter may reach out to the Sejm or the Senate transcripts and find out, how the representative he voted for fulfills his mandate. The voter can assess the deputy’s or the senator's involvement in parliamentary life and the consistencyconsistencyconsistency of his views with decisions taken during the vote. This is one of the simplest ways to control the authorities.

The basic method of making public information available is the Bulletin of Public Information (BIP) created by the organs of state and local administration.

Another way of obtaining information about the activities of the authorities or administrative bodies is submitting an applicationto submit an applicationsubmitting an application (in verbalverbalverbal or written form) to the appropriate representative of the authority or an official. You can also personally participate in collective meetings or read transcripts from these meetings.

How do you get public information?

In accordance with the European law, all citizens of member states and all natural or legal persons residing or having their registered officeregistered officeregistered office in a member state have the right of access the documents of the European Parliament, the Council of Europe and the European Commission on the basis of legally bindinglegally bindinglegally binding rules.

It is the duty of each of these institutions to specifyto specifyspecify in their internal regulations the detaileddetaileddetailed procedure regarding access to its documents. This principle, called the principle of transparency, was introduced for the first time under the Maastricht Treaty. Its goals were: strengthening the democratic character and increasing public trust in the administration. As a result of these assumptionsassumptionassumptions, the Commission and the European Council introduced a code of conductcode of conductcode of conduct on access to documents.

Later, under the Treaty of Amsterdam, citizens of the European Union have received access to documents from the Council, the Commission and the European Parliament.

In accordance with the regulation of the European Parliament, the procedure of obtaining information and access to documents was established. The procedure provides that any EU citizen or legal person established in a member state has the right of access to the institution's documents. The procedure of access to public information itself is determined by the national law of member states of the European Union.

Transparency of public life is the basic principle of a democratic state. It allows to control officials, check the legitimacy of their decisions and supports the level of civic initiative. The right to public information, when understood and exercised properlyproperlyproperly, leads to an increase in the level of social capital by increasing confidenceconfidenceconfidence in officials and their decisions. This is very important from the point of view of both the citizen and the state. The participation of citizens in public life and their responsibility for their own activities and the level of local initiatives increases. This way, the civil society, so necessary in democracy, is being built.

Keywords

right to access public information, Official Journal of Laws, Official Gazette of the Republic of Poland, Access to Public Information Act, Bulletin of Public Information, transparency, social capital

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