"Minister Verlinden's Bill on Administrative Documents: Weaknesses and Recommendations - Lesoir.be"

2023-05-23 17:15:03

Experts and law professors point out the weaknesses of Minister Verlinden’s bill on the publication of administrative documents. And call for a better definition, or even restriction, of the exception provided for ministerial offices.

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Deputy Head of Policy Department

By Martine Dubuisson

Published on 05/23/2023 at 19:15
Reading time: 7 mins

Cis a fashionable subject. Rather a necessity of the hour. “Transparency” is on the political agenda, at all levels… without always being put into practice, far from it. However, article 32 of the Constitution establishes the general principle: “Everyone has the right to consult each administrative document and to be provided with a copy, except in the cases and conditions set by law or decree”.

It was in 1994 that a federal law “relating to the publicity of the administration” concretized this right, by providing for the methods of consultation but also for exceptions. Almost thirty years later, as already mentioned here (The evening March 30 and April 13), the Minister of the Interior, Annelies Verlinden (CD&V), undertook to adapt this federal legislation to respond to the recommendations of Greco, the Group of States against Corruption, of the Council of Europe. Which considered that Belgium should improve its administrative transparency.

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