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The Secretariat also emphasizes that “the court determined that the Government had not violated the procedure to record the audio of the deliberations.”
“The Government Chancellery respects the final and unappealable decision of the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania, which established that the Government Chancellery acted legally in the management of the records of the Government meetings and did not violate the applicable legal acts. According to the procedures in force at that time, the Foreign Ministry was not obliged to make audio recordings of the Government meetings and to store and use them for purposes other than the preparation of the minutes, “the Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued Thursday night.
The Government Chancellery notes that “from January 2004 to 2019, there was a procedure whereby the audio recordings of the Government meetings were not stored or compiled. They were made only for the protocol list and were automatically removed from the directories. “
As previously written by BNS, the Rules of Procedure of the Government Chancellery approved by the Government Chancellor, Algirdas Stončaitis, on May 3, 2018, established that digital recordings of Government meetings and conferences must be placed in catalogs of data deposit and transfer and store in the files of the Government Chancellery.
However, by refusing to provide an audio recording to journalists, the Government Chancellery relied on another document, the Government Decree, which only records government meetings.
After the misunderstanding, the Government initiated and the Seimas adopted amendments to the Government Law, which eliminated the uncertainty: as of January 1, 2019, all meetings and deliberations of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania are publicly transmitted and they make their recordings. This practice is limited to a few countries in the European Union. Lithuania is considered one of the most open countries, “said the Foreign Ministry on Thursday.
“The government and government office have always sought and will continue to provide the necessary information to the public and to journalists,” the report said.
The Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania ruled on Thursday that the Government Chancellery violated the rights of journalists by failing to present and delete the audio recording of the October 2018 meeting.
Judge Dalia Višinskienė, who examined the case, said the journalists’ complaint was partially satisfied, but it was established that there is currently no real possibility of restoring the requested audio recording.
The court ruling indicates that the Government Registry did not provide any evidence in the event that it was unable to disclose information about the Government meeting because such restriction was necessary by law or to protect the rights and freedoms of others.
The Supreme Administrative Court also disagreed with the lower court’s position that the meeting minutes provided to journalists guaranteed applicants’ right to information and the dissemination of correct information.
In the Court’s view, the content of the minutes of the meeting presented to the applicants was very laconic and uninformative, and their desire to obtain information on the comments of government members on the draft Public Information Law could not be considered as a wish. to obtain redundant information.
This court order is final and is not subject to appeal.
Journalists went to court when the government refused to provide an audio recording of a meeting to discuss the issue of access to the data registry for journalists free of charge.
The government office claimed that the record of the meeting had been destroyed.
The Court of First Instance dismissed the journalists’ complaint, which they appealed.
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