Freiburg (dpa / lsw) - The state commissioner for data protection and freedom of information, Stefan Brink, has called for a transparency law in the green-black state government. Baden-Württemberg is a strong and citizen-friendly state and there is no doubt that it can also provide transparency, Brink said in Freiburg on Friday. He presented his draft for a corresponding law. It should force state and local authorities to maximum transparency.
Among other things, he demands that the authorities must publish more than 30 types of documents themselves in the future - such as reports, recipients of subsidies, contracts with a value of more than 100,000 euros or the source code of software if it was purchased by the administration. According to the proposal, this and other information should be made available free of charge on a specially set up Internet portal. So far, every citizen has had to make inquiries individually on the basis of the Freedom of Information Act and sometimes even pay a fee for this.
Brink said previous Freedom of Information Acts had too many exceptions. In the future, schools, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the Court of Auditors and Südwestrundfunk would also have to be included in the obligation to provide information. The current Freedom of Information Act must quickly be developed into a Transparency Act. The Green-Black coalition agreement also provides for the same.
A spokesman for the Interior Ministry referred to the evaluation of the Freedom of Information Act. It was initially unclear when a result should be available. Brink's evaluation is too slow. "We have to make progress now," he said, emphasizing that the right to information naturally also has legal limits. Public security concerns, trade and business secrets and the protection of intellectual property were cited as examples. Brink will step down as the Southwest's top privacy advocate at the end of the year.
