The government’s previous attempt in June to introduce a law that would essentially gut the Freedom of Information Act stalled, after wide pushback from civil society and even from within the Social Democrats—a partner in the coalition government.
A new government draft law dated September 30 now proposes to amend the Freedom of Information Act by excluding its application to any information requests about state actions relating to “critical infrastructure” or infrastructure deemed “in particular need of protection to maintain public security.” These vague provisions would give authorities that receive freedom of information requests broad discretionary powers to reject requests.
FragDenStaat, a German civil society platform for freedom of information, called this exclusionary clause a “Trojan horse,” that risks allowing for the blanket rejection of information requests that relate to “energy, transportation, healthcare, finance, water, food, and much more.”
Under Germany’s Freedom of Information Act, anyone can make requests for access to public records. Human rights groups and journalists often rely on freedom of information laws as an effective—and sometimes the only—avenue to scrutinize state actions and hold authorities to account. Limiting the scope of the Act through such overbroad exclusions would undermine their access and state transparency. It is also unnecessary as the Act already stipulates that official information that could jeopardize public security is exempt from information requests.
Under international human rights law, Germany is obliged to protect the right to seek and receive information as part of the right to freedom of expression. Information regarding any government action should only be withheld in exceptional cases—not through blanket exceptions.
Access to information is a right essential for enabling effective public participation and ensures that the public has access to reliable information that can help strengthen trust in democratic institutions. The government should drop its efforts to undermine it.
