EU/UNDP Project “Strengthening the System of Parliamentary Democracy in Georgia” in cooperation with the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information (IDFI), with the partnership of the Parliament of Georgia, is implementing the project “Supporting Parliament of Georgia Involvement in Open Government Partnership”.

Project supports the establishment of the Open Parliament Principle and the development of the Open Parliament Georgia Action Plan.

The research below is drawn out within the scopes of the aforementioned project – Supporting Parliament of Georgia Involvement in Open Government Partnership.

The first part of the research analyses the action plans of the member countries of the Open Government Partnership regarding the Parliamentary Openness. The second part of the research refers to the illustrative commitments developed by the Open Government Guide. Drawing their action plans out, countries can take into account these commitments.

The research highlights the countries that have best practice and a few commitments regarding the Parliamentary Openness. Among these countries are Croatia, Greece, Netherlands, Chile and USA. Their commitments define the establishment of e-legislative process, publishing the bills in easily readable format and increase of the citizen’s engagement in the parliamentary affairs.

It is notified that OGP member countries pay the major attention to the implementation of the innovative approaches towards the parliamentary openness, for example, they publish legislative acts in digital raw context. Moreover, citizens can comment the draft-bills with using various e-tools and internet applications. Also the research indicated that the OGP member countries attach particular significance to social media for the development of Parliamentary Openness and citizen engagement. The research showed that the OGP members perceive the Parliamentary Openness as the foundation of trustworthiness before the citizens, improvement of public services and the baseline for fighting against corruption. The role of the Non-Governmental and International Parliamentary Monitoring Organizations connected to Parliamentary Openness is also highlighted in the research.

/public/upload/IDFI/OGP_Parliament_Research.pdf