Hungary has notified the Open Government Partnership that it will join the multilateral organization, becoming its 57th member.
Like other members, Hungary will prepare a national action plan, and an OGP spokesperson said it would be done by the end of the year.
A working group of civil society organizations, including K-Monitor Watchdog for Public Funds and the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, and some private enterprises has prepared recommendations for the plan (in Hungarian).
The recommendations include:
– In order to provide for user-friendly and machine-readable formats in case of data published on governmental websites, legal regulation shall dispose of the way data is disclosed and the government shall adopt open data standards in public administration.
– Since there’s an obvious tendency in the jurisdictional interpretation of the FOI law to restrict the freedom of information, strengthening legal guarantees on data related to the management of national assets is essential.
– Public procurement databases need further upgrade and development.
– There’s a need to establish a central database on contracts concluded by the state (based on the Slovak model).
– The education of public officers on Hungarian freedom of information regulations is highly recommended.
– There’s a need for an effective judicial review procedure on classified information (state secrets).
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