Berlin, 1 August 2011

(by Daniel Dietrich)

On August, 1st 2011 the Open Knowledge Foundation Deutschland launched a new Freedom of Information (FOI) portal called “Frag den Staat”. The new site enables citizens, journalists and researchers to request information from all federal agencies and institutions across Germany. Requests can be tracked on the site, creating a public archive of official documents.

The model for FragDenStaat.de is the very successful British website “whatdotheyknow.com”. In 2010 about 12 per cent of all Freedom of Information requests to central state authorities were made via this website.

In Germany FOI legislation is in place since 2006 on federal state level. The Informationsfreiheitsgesetz (IFG) is a law providing a general right of access to information held by public authorities on federal level. Federal state level freedom of information legislation has also been implemented in 11 of the 16 federal states wile 5 federal states still don’t have a law providing a general right of access to information held by public authorities on federal state level.

Although in place since 2006 the majority of German citizens are still not aware of their right to access information held by public authorities, nor the procedures for doing so. Peter Schaar, Federal Commissionair for Privacy and Freedom of Information criticised German Public Authorities for too often denying FOI requests in his second Report on Freedom of Information.

The federal FOI law is currently being reviewed until March 2012. There is an ongoing public debate on how Freedom of Information could be fostered in Germany. Greenpeace Germany recently published a proposal to unify and strengthen FOI legislation and the Green Party is currently elaborating their position on FOI as well. Another interesting development is Germany’s smallest state, Bremen, in which FOI legislation now mandates the pro-active publication of many official documents on the web.

Here are some notes from the Press Release of the launch of "Frag den Staat":

"Berlin - On August, 1st, 2011 the website “Frag den Staat” went online - it is run by the Open Knowledge Foundation Deutschland e.V, the German Chapter of the Open Knowledge Foundation. The goal of the website is to act as a central online hub for requests to German Federal Ministries and Authorities. FragDenStaat.de supports requests complying to the Federal Freedom of Information Law, the Environmental Information Law and the Consumer Information Law.

Many citizens are not familiar with the possibilities and the potentials of Federal Laws which grant access to records. The threshold for applying access apparently is high. The new website is aimed at lowering this threshold.

Stefan Wehrmeyer, Project Manager of FragDenStaat.de at Open Knowledge Foundation Deutschland said: “Via the web a mighty and democratic tool such as Freedom of Information can be used in an ideal way.”

Christian Humborg, Director of Transparency International Deutschland said: “Freedom of Information is a matter of course in the 21st century. It enables accountability and control and empowers citizens. Therefore the State Government of Baden-Württemberg’s decision to postpone the introduction of a Freedom of Information Law by a least one year is very disappointing and incomprehensible.”

On its launch the portal is already being supported by eleven organisations and initiatives. These are: Access Info Europe, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Informationsfreiheit e.V. (“German Society for Freedom of Information), Deutsche Journalistinnen- und Journalisten- Union (“German Union of Journalists”), Deutscher Journalisten-Verband e.V. (“German Association of Journalists”), Digitale Gesellschaft e.V ‘(“Digital Society”), Legal Leaks, Mehr Demokratie e.V. (“More Democracy”), netzwerk recherche e.V. (“Network of Investigative Journalists”), n-ost Netzwerk für Osteuropa-Berichterstattung e.V. (“Network for Reporting on Eastern Europe”), Open Data Network e.V. and Transparency International Deutschland e.V."

Disclaimer: The Author is Chairman of the Open Knowledge Foundation Deutschland e.V.