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Public Registry Demands Fee for the Provided Public Information

June 24, 2008

Gela Mtivlishvili, Kakheti

 

 Eka Lomidze

Registration Service Department of the National Agency for Public Registry within the Georgian Ministry of Justice estimated a fee for the provided public information. The fee is envisaged by the Law of Georgia on Registration Fee for Service Rendered byThe National Agency of Public Registr.”

According to the Article 37 of the Georgian General Administrative Code, Everyone is entitled to have access to non-classified information held by governmental entities and to obtain a copy thereof - irrespective of its physical form or the condition of storage. Everyone may then choose the form of receipt of public information.

Article 38 of the same Code defines the accessibility of public information: “A public agency shall provide access to the copy of public information. No fees shall be charged for distributing public information, except for copying costs.”

Although the General Administrative Code unilaterally prohibits fixing a fee for the requested public information, we were asked to pay 10 GEL for the information and based on what legal grounds a particular building was registered as a private property. Giorgi Mchedlishvili, the official from the Registration Service Office of the National Agency of the Public Registry, pointed out that the requested information would be provided within 4 working days after we paid for it. According to the Article 1 paragraph “f” of the Law of Georgia on Registration Fee for Service Rendered by The National Agency of Public Registry, “providing the information on property rights as to wealth, on the sequestered property, or about the immovable property under theory is to be provided within 4 working days and 10 GEL shall be charged.”

Is the National Agency of the Public Registry, a public institution, is not obeying the Georgian General Administrative Code? Why the laws contradict one another? We applied to Eka Lomidze, lawyer for the project “For the Freedom of Information” to seek the answers to these questions. The project is implemented by the non-governmental organizations, “Center for the Protection of Constitutional Rights and Journalistic Center-Discover Georgia.

According to the Article 2, Paragraph I-“a” of the Georgian General Administrative Code, "Administrative agency" means any state or local self-government agency or institution and any natural or artificial person that exercises public authority in accordance with law. Consequently, the National Agency of the Public Registry is an administrative body (public agency) and it should also follow the Georgian General Administrative Code.

As for Article 38 of the General Administrative Code, it defines that the public agency shall promote the accessibility of public information. Besides that fees shall not be assigned for any public information, with the exception for additional copies of the provided documents.

I want to define that the law requests are equal for the public information provided by all administrative institutions. However, there is a fee estimated for the service provided by the National Agency of Public Registry in the Article 3 Paragraph I of the law that is a special law and specifies the necessary procedures about the accessibility of public information. More precisely, it defines that the terms and fees for the accessibility and service provided by the public registry can be estimated under that law only. 

-That law does not contradict to the demands of the Georgian General Administrative Code?

-I think it contradicts with the part where the article 4 paragraph “b” of the abovementioned law estimates the fee for the service provided by the public registry. Based on your concrete example, it is evident that you request only public information. According to the law everyone and not registration enterprise (of property, hypothec, lease, etc) shall pay for the provided public information according to the law on the Right of Registration of Immovable Property”.

It gets obscure when Article 37 of the General Administrative Code claims that 1) that everyone may obtain public information irrespective of its physical form or the condition of its storage. Everyone may choose the form of receipt of public information, if there are various forms of its receipt, and gain access to the original of information; if there is danger of damaging the original, a public agency shall provide access to the original under supervision.

The article enables us to request public information irrespective of its physical form or the condition of storage but we face some delay in the Article 3 and 4 of the Georgian Law on Registration Fee for Service Rendered by The National Agency of Public Registry.

-Thus, the reply of the public registry is based on the legislation norm that contradicts with the imperative request of the article 38 of the General Administrative Code.

-their reply is completely correspondent to the requests of the law that regulates the accessibility of the public information at the Public Registry.

In parallel to it, there is Article 8, Paragraph I-‘h’ of the Law of Georgia on Registration Fee for Service Rendered by The National Agency of Public Registry which states that the fee will not paid for the copy of the document.

-What is the aim of the abovementioned paragraph ‘h’ if not free providing of the copy (extract) of the public information at the public registry?

-Unfortunately, the law itself enables the public registry to charge a fee for its service.
As for the hierarchy of the law, both General Administrative Code and the Law of Georgia on Registration Fee for Service Rendered by The National Agency of Public Registry are the protocols that have equal legal value. Consequently, in controversial situation more special and concrete regulation norm of legal relationship is utilized.

Finally, because of faults on the legislation, the public agency complies with the special law when it charges the applicant for having been provided public information.

In such cases, we should outline the deficiencies of the legislation and to then expose these to the society in order to introduce corresponding amendments to the acting legislation.

 


 

 


 

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