Data obtained by the CDT shows that a total of 2,391 requests were received by 18 ministries last year.
"Although it is often claimed that ministries are inundated with requests for free access to information, they received an average of 11 requests per month during 2025," said Gvozdenović.
According to her, the Ministry of Internal Affairs received the most requests - 925, followed by the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation - 226 and the Ministry of Public Administration - 165, while the least interest was for information on the work of the Ministry of Public Works (21) and the Ministry of Diaspora (27).
"The scale of the workload is best illustrated by the example of the Ministry of the Interior, as the ministry with by far the largest number of requests. So, this ministry received an average of about 77 requests per month, or three to four requests per day," Gvozdenović said.
As she stated, six employees have been assigned to the Ministry of Interior for free access to information, while the guide for the SPI lists the chief and two other officers as the persons responsible for handling requests.
"379 complaints have been filed against this ministry due to the silence of the administration," Gvozdenović pointed out.
She reminded that the law provides for the possibility of extending the decision-making deadline when it comes to extensive or complex information.
"In that case, employees have a total of 23 days to respond to the request for free access to information," explained Gvozdenović.
Gvozdenović also emphasized that institutions are obliged to be proactively transparent and publish key information on their websites, which, she said, is the most effective way to reduce the number of requests.
"In other words, the more transparent an institution is, the less need there is to legally request information about its work," she says.
She also pointed out that the CDT failed to obtain the requested data from the General Secretariat of the Government and seven ministries on how they acted upon requests for free access to information.
"Three ministries refused to provide data, while we never received a response from four," said Gvozdenović.
She added that nine of the 21 ministries that responded to the CDT's request did not submit responses within the legally stipulated 15-day period.
Gvozdenović also warned about changes to the Law on Free Access to Information, which, according to her, could make access to data even more difficult.
"From July this year, we will have to pay to find out even this basic information about the work of ministries and the General Secretariat of the Government, because the law has introduced a provision according to which, in the event of initiating court proceedings due to the silence of ministries, each party bears its own costs, even when the court confirms that the silence is illegal," said Gvozdenović.
Gvozdenović concluded that administrative problems within institutions cannot be a justification for denying the right to free access to information.
"Justifying the denial of the right to free access to information with administrative difficulties within government bodies should not be used to derogate from that right," concluded Gvozdenović.
