Projects
Öffentlichkeitsgesetz.ch
The website www.oeffentlichkeitsgesetz.ch gives media professionals and the interested public a “one-stop shop” for everything related to the “BGÖ”, the Swiss Federal Act on Freedom of Information in the Administration. The online tool lets users create and manage requests for access to official documents held by the administration. Deadline tracking makes it easier to manage the requests, which can be addressed to around 250 government offices. Continuously updated statistics on the offices and how users rate them provide insight into the state of implementation of transparency legislation in the federal administration.
An annotated presentation of the Act and the Ordinance, with links to rulings of the federal courts and to mediation proceedings of the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner, provides an overview of case law and how it is evolving. Records pried loose from the administration are published in a library of “liberated” documents. Via the “Whistle-Blower-Line”, users can submit tips about documents whose release can be requested under the Freedom of Information Act.
The platform is run by the association Öffentlichkeitsgesetz.ch, a group of Swiss investigative journalists. Its financial supporters include tamedia, Swiss Radio and Television (SRF) and the Verband Schweizer Medien (Swiss Media Association), whose members publish around 300 newspapers and magazines.
Design: Lopetz (Büro Destruct)
Öffentlichkeitsgesetz.ch
