Podgorica, (MINA) – The analysis of complaints submitted to the Agency for the Protection of Personal Data (AZLP) indicates a growing trend of the first-instance authorities failing to act on requests for free access to information, but also the practice of misuse of that right by parties aiming to collect legal fees, which reach EUR 2,000 per case.

The AZLP announced that the Council of the Agency, in the process of deciding on reported complaints in the first half of this year, identified a new pattern of active submission of requests for free access to information by newly formed NGOs.

“Which, in a short period of time, submit requests to a larger number of institutions bound by the Law on Free Access to Information, seeking documentation that requires extensive data processing over longer period of time”, the press release states.

According to the Agency, the analysis of the total number of reported complaints confirms the continued trend of administrative silence among first-instance bodies, which often wait for the AZLP Council to issue a decision ordering them to act on the submitted request for free access to information within 15 days.

During the first half of the year, the AZLP resolved 1,320 complaints related to violation of procedural rules, which reflects, according to the Agency, its swift response in ensuring applicants’ rights to access are upheld.

In 692 cases, the AZLP Council accepted the appeal and returned the cases for retrial and a new decision.