Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act
Germany set to restrict its Freedom of Information Act
德国计划限制其《信息自由法》
Shortly before the German parliament’s summer recess, lawmakers approved a whole series of reforms. “These reforms are meant to get Germany back on track,” said Chancellor Friedrich Merz optimistically. Toward the bottom of the 34-point list of reforms is something that has begun to cause great controversy: the ruling coalition of conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/ Christian Social Union (CSU) and the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) wants to significantly alter the Freedom of Information Act (IFG), which has been in effect since 2006. Critics say, the plan is to abolish it altogether.
在德国议会夏季休会前夕，立法者批准了一系列改革措施。总理弗里德里希·默茨（基民盟）乐观地表示：“这些改革旨在让德国重回正轨。”然而，在这份包含34项改革的清单末尾，有一项内容引发了巨大争议：由保守派基民盟/基社盟与中左翼社会民主党（社民党）组成的执政联盟，希望大幅修改自2006年起生效的《信息自由法》（IFG）。批评人士称，该计划实际上是要将其彻底废除。
The IFG grants every individual the right to access official information held by federal agencies. This is the law that many organizations, including environmental groups, consumer protection organizations and, not least, journalists, cite to demand that government agencies provide them with data and substantive material quickly and free of charge. Exceptions apply only to security-related information, such as that held by intelligence agencies, which is, understandably, subject to special protection.
《信息自由法》赋予每个人获取联邦机构所持官方信息的权利。许多组织，包括环保团体、消费者保护组织，尤其是新闻工作者，都依据该法律要求政府机构快速且免费地提供数据和实质性材料。只有涉及安全的信息（如情报机构持有的信息）属于例外，这些信息理所当然地受到特殊保护。
However, in the opinion of CDU and CSU, all government information must be treated with exceptional confidentiality in an era of global cyberwarfare and hacker attacks. The government has long intended to significantly amend the regulations. Now, the 34-point reform paper states that there is a particular need to protect government data during “times of highly complex threats, both domestic and foreign.” According to the government’s plan, this could effectively mean that only “natural persons” — not associations or organizations — would have the right to submit requests to government agencies.
然而，基民盟和基社盟认为，在全球网络战和黑客攻击频发的时代，所有政府信息都必须进行特殊保密处理。政府长期以来一直打算大幅修改相关法规。现在，这份34点改革文件指出，在“国内外威胁高度复杂的时期”，特别需要保护政府数据。根据政府的计划，这意味着未来可能只有“自然人”——而非协会或组织——才有权向政府机构提交信息查询请求。
Currently, requests submitted to, for example, federal ministries are answered either free of charge or for a small fee; now, fees could rise significantly. And the names of employees in government agencies and ministries, among others, could be redacted in the future to protect them “from hostility and threats.”
目前，向联邦各部委等机构提交的请求要么免费，要么仅收取少量费用；而未来费用可能会大幅上涨。此外，政府机构和部委工作人员的姓名等信息，未来可能会被涂黑，以保护他们“免受敌意和威胁”。
What is likely to be even more controversial: The government wants to look into the legality, under current law, of limiting these rights to “German citizens and EU citizens living in Germany” — that is, to citizens of the European Union. What’s more, information on subjects like critical infrastructure, counterintelligence and counterterrorism should be handled with particular care going forward.
更具争议性的是：政府希望研究在现行法律下，将这些权利限制在“德国公民及居住在德国的欧盟公民”范围内的合法性。此外，关于关键基础设施、反间谍和反恐等主题的信息，未来应进行特别谨慎的处理。
As a member of the Parliamentary Oversight Panel overseeing the intelligence services, Konstantin von Notz, lawmaker from the opposition Green Party, is very familiar with handling sensitive information. Yet he has said about the new plans: “Under the pretext of having to adapt to new security threats, they are fundamentally undermining the legal foundations of government transparency.” The coalition promised to modernize the state, he said, but this is “the exact opposite — namely, a drastic step backward from hard-won civil rights.”
作为监督情报机构的议会监督小组的一员，反对党绿党的议员康斯坦丁·冯·诺茨对处理敏感信息非常熟悉。然而，他针对新计划表示：“他们以适应新安全威胁为借口，从根本上破坏了政府透明度的法律基础。”他说，执政联盟曾承诺实现国家现代化，但这却是“完全相反的做法——即在来之不易的公民权利上大幅倒退”。
In an open letter, 110 civil society organizations — including Greenpeace, Transparency International and Amnesty International — have urged the government: “Stop these plans! Protect the Freedom of Information Act (IFG) and freedom of information in its current form.” The letter continues: “Anyone who limits the right to access information to individual cases, subjects it to mandatory justification, excludes organizations and raises fees — without warning — to exorbitant levels is effectively abolishing freedom of information.”
在一封公开信中，包括绿色和平组织、透明国际和国际特赦组织在内的110个民间社会组织敦促政府：“停止这些计划！保护《信息自由法》及其现有形式的信息自由。”信中写道：“任何将信息获取权限制在个别案例、强制要求说明理由、排除组织参与，并毫无预警地将费用提高到过高水平的行为，实际上就是在废除信息自由。”
Martin Kaiser, a climate expert with the environmental group Greenpeace, told DW: “If the federal government now wants to curtail the right to information, it will hinder oversight and public participation and reduce public acceptance regarding infrastructure, land use, species conservation and climate protection. This does not build trust; it creates new mistrust.”
绿色和平组织的气候专家马丁·凯泽告诉德国之声：“如果联邦政府现在想要削减信息获取权，这将阻碍监督和公众参与，并降低公众对基础设施、土地利用、物种保护和气候保护的接受度。这不仅不能建立信任，反而会制造新的不信任。”
Criticism has been so fierce that even members of the ruling coalition in the Bundestag now want to reconsider the planned reform. Experts from the Social Democratic Party’s Bundestag committees on the Interior, Digital Affairs and Consumer Protection have issued a joint statement declaring: “Any curtailment of the existing rights of citizens, the press and civil society to access information must not be allowed to proceed.” It continues: “The SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag will not approve any move to abolish the current level of transparency provided by the Freedom of Information Act.”
批评声浪之大，以至于连联邦议院执政联盟的成员现在也希望重新考虑这项改革计划。社民党联邦议院内政、数字事务和消费者保护委员会的专家发表联合声明称：“绝不允许任何削减公民、媒体和民间社会现有信息获取权的行为。”声明还表示：“社民党议会党团不会批准任何旨在废除《信息自由法》所提供的现有透明度水平的举措。”
According to official figures, the existing right to information has been widely exercised. As the Bundestag reported, a total of approximately 105,000 requests were submitted to German authorities between 2015 and 2022. In only a fraction of those cases — about 16,200 — was information partially withheld, while in about 9,000 cases was it denied entirely. In other words, information was disclosed in response to most requests. Critics fear that this trend could be reversed in the future.
根据官方数据，现有的信息获取权已被广泛行使。据联邦议院报告，2015年至2022年间，德国当局共收到约10.5万份请求。其中只有一小部分（约1.62万份）信息被部分保留，约9000份请求被完全拒绝。换句话说，大多数请求都得到了信息披露。批评人士担心，这一趋势在未来可能会发生逆转。