Information still considered 'property' of institution

The access to the information possessed by the governmental institutions based in Chisinau became freer, but the situation in rural areas is diametrically opposed. Such a conclusion was reached by the nongovernmental association “Acces-Info” after carrying out a monitoring study, Info-Prim Neo reports. “Great effort was made at governmental level to make the institutions open and transparent. But at district and local levels, the situation is worse,” Acces-Info head Vasile Spinei told a news conference. According to the monitors of Acces-Info, a large part of the public servants and representatives of civil society organizations do not know the law on access to information. “We lag behind in implementing this law for two reasons. Most of the servants consider that the information is the institution's property, but this is not correct. The information and documents are the property of the people. The second cause is that Moldova witnesses total juridical illiteracy,” said Vasile Spinei. According to him, the laws are not read, while the specialists who draft them do not come to explain them. Alexandru Cantar, the head of the Committee for the Freedom of the Press and co-author of the law on access to information, said the given law is implemented improperly. “When we drafted the bill, we thought it will be revolutionary and will be implemented during less than 10 years, but things stand differently. It is ten years already, but this law is not enforced,” he said. Cornel Ciurea, expert of the Institute for Development and Social Initiative “Viitorul”, said all the studies made in Moldova are of a poor quality because the provided information is incomplete, while the statistics are irrelevant. He stressed the institutions do not furnish information in order to avoid risks. The political parties are also nontransparent. The law on access to information was adopted on July 28, 2000. The seventh Right to Know Day event is held in Moldova between September 27 and October 3