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Alert

ARTICLE 19 issues second memorandum on draft access to information law

(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) - The following is a 15 October 2004 ARTICLE 19 press release:

On 15th October 2004, ARTICLE 19 publishes its second Memorandum on the draft law on Free Access to Information, of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The Memorandum comments on a proposal developed by the Ministry of Justice which is due to be debated by the public today and is scheduled for discussion in government later this month. The full text can be found at the following link: http://www.article19.org/ViewArticle.asp?AreaID=31&SubAreaID=110&PageID=312&ElementID=319&ArticleID=1745&Comment=

The Memorandum welcomes the Ministry of Justice Proposal which is progressive and incorporates many of the best practices in the area of access to information. In addition, we welcome the fact that the current Proposal has incorporated many of the recommendations we made in our Memorandum on the Macedonian Law on Free Access to Public Information, published in November 2003 (2003 Memorandum). Nevertheless, there are issues of concern with the current draft and the Memorandum recommends improvements in the following areas: the somewhat limited scope of the law, some unclear definitions in the regime of exceptions, the weak proposal for record management systems and the lack of adequate protection for whistleblowers.