The most closed institutions in 2020 are the Office of the Government and the Ministry of Justice - IDFI

The Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI) publishes a study on access to public information. The quality of access to public information in the country has again deteriorated compared to last year, according to the results of the monitoring.

Specifically, according to IDFI, out of 6,258 requests sent to 285 government agencies in 2020, they received responses to 5,000 requests (80%), with most government agencies leaving unanswered or rejecting to present contracts with consultants, experts and advisers.

In 2020, IDFI rated the Georgia government administration and the Department of Justice system as the most closed state agencies. In addition to the agencies listed above, the organization's request went unanswered by 13 other organizations.

IDFI writes, that:

• - In 2020, a significant part of public institutions (30%) left unanswered or denied requests for the contracts with the persons employed in the positions of advisor, expert, or consultant. The second most closed information was related to the mileage and average fuel consumption rates of vehicles assigned to public officials;
• - In 2020, the instances of unanswered requests related to the fight against the pandemic, which would understandably be of high public interest, were particularly problematic. For example, copies of ordinances issued by the government, measures taken to promote tourism, etc.
• - In 2020, in addition to the agencies within the systems of the Administration of the Government and the Ministry of Justice, another 13 institutions (including the State Treasury) were found to have left all IDFI requests without response;

According to the organization, the Ministry of Environment and Agriculture had the highest rates of access to public information among central public institutions. And the lowest were the Ministry of Justice (5.45%) and the Ministry of Finance (12.91%).

The non-governmental organization writes that in 2020, compared to the previous year, the percentage of complete answers decreased by 6%, while the percentage of unanswered requests increased by 4%:

• - In 2020, 10 out of 14 central public institutions in Georgia had a worse indicator of access to information as compared to the previous year. Among these were the Ministry of Finance (-45.7%), the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development (-35.84%), the Ministry of Internal Affairs (-30.26%), the Administration of the President (-26.18%);
• - The rate of responses received from public institutions in 2020 (80%) was the lowest since 2013;
• - In 2020, the rates of fully answered (47%) and unanswered requests (41%) of the agencies subordinated to the ministries were the worst in the last 10 years;