Amendment to the Freedom of Information Act effective from March 1, 2025

On December 10, 2024, members of the National Council of the Slovak Republic approved Act No. 401/2024, amending Act No. 211/2000 Coll. on free access to information and on amendments to certain acts (the Freedom of Information Act), as amended (hereinafter referred to as the "Amendment" and the "Freedom of Information Act"). The Amendment will take effect on March 1, 2025.
The main objective of the Amendment is to introduce a mechanism that will enable obligated persons to manage the process of providing information more efficiently and to ensure the reimbursement of costs associated with extensive searching and disclosure of information. At the same time, the purpose of this Amendment is to protect obligated persons from abuse of the right to information.  

Fee obligation
The amendment gives obligated persons the right to request reimbursement from the applicant for the costs of providing information that was preceded by an exceptionally extensive search for information. The decision of the President of the Slovak Republic to return the law, which preceded the approval of the amendment by overriding the president's veto, raised an interesting question, namely, what exactly is meant by the term "extensive search for information." The authors of the amendment were inspired by Czech legislation. The decision-making practice of the Czech Republic shows that an exceptionally extensive search for information occurs when "the acquisition of information can no longer be considered a normal part of the normal agenda of the obligated entity in view of the concept of public administration as a service to the public. As a rule, the activity of the obligated entity will be considered increased if the employee responsible for handling the request or the employees involved in handling the request are forced to interrupt or postpone their other tasks for a longer period of time and devote themselves to searching for information."

The amendment also stipulates that the obligated person must notify the applicant in writing within five days that the search for information is exceptionally extensive, along with the amount of the fee, and "the notification must clearly state the facts on which the obligated person based the calculation of the fee and how it was calculated." Payment of the costs is a condition for access to the requested information, i.e., the costs must be paid ex ante, i.e., before the information is made available. If the applicant does not pay the fee within 7 days and does not file an objection (see text below), the obligated person will postpone the request.

The aforementioned provision of Section 14(6) of the Freedom of Information Act also gives the applicant the right to object to the calculation of the fee. According to the authors of the Amendment, this institution represents "greater balance in the legal regulation."

What is the basis for determining the amount of the fee?
The amendment to the Act does not specify a special tariff for the provision of information, but it cannot be governed by the tariff within the meaning of Section 8 et seq. Act No. 145/1995 Coll. on Administrative Fees, since according to this Act, acts related to the implementation of the Act on Free Access to Information are exempt from fees. The amount of the reimbursement will therefore depend on the administrative discretion of the obligated person, but it must always be a purposefully incurred expense.

Change in the general deadline for processing requests
Last but not least, based on a supplementary proposal by MPs Š. Gašparovič, M. Bartek, and A. Lučanský, the amendment introduces a change in the deadline for processing requests from the original 8 working days to 12 working days. According to the explanatory memorandum, this change is intended to take into account objective changes in the functioning of obligated persons resulting from the growing volume and scope of requests for access to information and to adapt to these objective changes.

[1])            § 2 Zákona o slobode informácii

[1])            nrsr.sk/web/Dynamic/DocumentPreview.aspx?DocID=547971, s. 1

[1])            nrsr.sk/web/Dynamic/DocumentPreview.aspx?DocID=556881, s. 2 a nasl.

[1])            nrsr.sk/web/Dynamic/DocumentPreview.aspx?DocID=547971, s. 1; § 17 Zákona č. 106/1999 Sb. o svobodném přístupu k informacím

[1])            Zákon o svobodném přístupu k informacím, 1. vydání, 2016, s. 993 - 1073: A. Furek

[1])            § 14 ods. 6 Zákona o slobode informácii

[1])            § 14 ods. 7 Zákona o slobode informácii