End of official secrecy – National Council ends “secrecy”

The SPÖ followed the same position: “We are bringing Austria up to date in terms of transparency,” said deputy club president Jörg Leichtfried. The FPÖ and NEOS voted against the change, which will not come into effect until September 2025. The two opposition parties agreed, among other things, that the proactive information obligation only applies to communities with more than 5,000 inhabitants. FPÖ justice spokesman Harald Stefan even sees a deterioration of the current situation. You can’t just create ‘first and second class people when it comes to freedom of information’.

NEOS is missing the cooldown
NEOS deputy club boss Nikolaus Scherak denounced exceptions for state parliaments and chambers. Furthermore, the law cannot be made applicable by simple federal or state law. Just because a law is called the Freedom of Information Act does not mean that everyone has access to information. Stefan also missed some points included in the original draft, such as a cooling-off phase for politicians before going to the Constitutional Court.

Companies with state influence are also affected
In essence, the Freedom of Information Act provides for an obligation for public bodies to provide information: this applies to the administrative bodies of the federal and state governments, as well as to all municipalities. The bodies responsible for the work of the federal government and the state administration must also provide information. Non-sovereign foundations, funds, institutions and companies with decisive state influence are also obliged to provide information. In the latter case, however, their competitiveness should not be limited.

In the future, information of “general interest” should be proactively published by public authorities, but not by municipalities with fewer than 5,000 inhabitants.