During 9 months of the project “Public Information Database-www.opendata.ge” IDFI has addressed 224 public authorities with the total of 2441 requests, 1525 of which have been replied completely. Out of 2441 requests sent by the Institute 294 have been left unanswered, 194 have been answered incompletely, there were 26 cases of refusal and in the rest 402 cases the public authorities stated that they either did not have the requested information, or had not carried out the specific action.

In the current period of the project the most replies (1612 out of 2439) have been received within the 10 days period, as prescribed by the Georgian Legislation. However, it is worth mentioning that only in 413 cases was the Institute informed by the public institutions about the need for 10 days period for providing the information. The 10 days period, prescribed by the Georgian legislation was violated in 34% of cases, including the unanswered requests.

The given period of the project went in parallel with the election process in Georgia. It is interesting to observe the effect of the political changes in the country on the practice of release of public information. According to our data, positive trends can be observed in terms of release of public information since the Parliamentary Elections of October 1, 2012. The rate of completely answered requests has increased from 51% before the elections up to 76% after the elections, while the unanswered requests have decreased from 30% to 14% in the same period. There is also considerable progress in terms of complying with the 10 days period. The 10 days period has been violated in 54% of cases before the parliamentary elections, and only in 34% of cases – after.

Note: The data shown in the diagram do not reflect the answers received from the public institutions, according to which they do not possess the requested information or have not carried out the specific action.

The progress of various public institutions in terms of release of the public information is interesting to observe. Since the Parliamentary Elections the Institute has sent most public information requests to the following public authorities: Ministries, Legal Entities of Public Law and the sub-agencies, Offices of the State Ministers, self-governing units and Administrations of the State Representative-Governors. According to our data it is possible to see the real effect of the political changes on the public institutions in the groups given above.

In case of the Ministries the practice of the unanswered requests has decreased by 28%, while the amount of complete answers has increased by 41%.

In case of the Legal Entities of the Public Law and sub-agencies the rate of complete answers has increased from 52% before the elections to 79% after, while the unanswered replies decreased from 31% to 6% in the same period.

The regional self-governing units and the Administrations of the State Representative-Governors have also shown more responsibility in terms of release of public information after the political changes. In case of the self-governing units, despite the fact that they often had to work in parallel with tense political process, the rate of their complete answers has increased by 22%, and the unanswered requests have decreased by 16%, as compared to the situation before the elections. As for the Administrations of the State Representative-Governors, their complete answers have increased by 8%, while the unanswered requests have decreased by 2%.

As it can be observed from the diagrams shown above, the political changes have had positive effect on the release of public information by the public institutions. The Institute continues to request the information of high public interest from the public institutions and observe whether the positive trend in terms of release of public information, which is evident in the public institutions since the political changes, persists.

It should also be noted, that the statistical data received by IDFI from the public institutions in 2011-2012 within the framework of the project “Public Information Database” have been included in 2012 Report on Human Rights Practices published by U. S Department of State. The given fact once again underlines objectivity of our activities on one hand, and international recognition of the right to access to public information as one of the fundamental human rights, on the other.