Heilbronn (dpa/lsw) - To make it easier for people to get information from the administration, state data protection officer Stefan Brink is promoting a transparency law - and cannot understand the criticism of the municipalities. "The municipalities in Baden-Württemberg are actually very citizen-friendly and also want to be digitally successful," he told the "Heilbronner Voice" (Saturday). "The Transparency Act stands for proximity to the citizen and for digital administration." It relieves official employees enormously.
The law is intended to put information available to the administration on a portal so that it can be shared better than before. This could, for example, involve expert opinions on the stability of a specific building, building development plans or budget plans. “The tree register has the most access to the Hamburg transparency portal: what kind of trees are in my street?” reported Brink.
"So far, citizens have had to go to certain offices and submit an application to get information. That can be associated with costs," said the state commissioner for data protection and freedom of information. On the other hand, anyone can access information quickly, anonymously and free of charge via a transparency portal.
A month ago, Brink presented a draft law and warned that the current freedom of information law must be quickly developed into a transparency law. The Green-Black coalition agreement also provides for the same. The municipal council and district council had rejected the proposal. The implementation of such a far-reaching law would involve considerable administrative effort, which would send the wrong signal in times of a massive shortage of skilled workers, it said. There are also more important issues such as refugees and climate change.
"I assume that there has not yet been sufficient information about the path from the Freedom of Information Act to the Transparency Act," Brink told the newspaper. "If it doesn't come, it would be a major setback."
