Czech Republic Design Report 2018-2020
- Action Plan: Czech Republic Action Plan 2018-2020
- Dates Under Review: 2018-2020
- Report Publication Year: 2020
The Czech Republic’s fourth action planAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen... was developed through an open and consultative process but did not gain sufficient visibility to reach a wide spectrum of actors. The commitments mainly derive from existing government programs and are focused on transparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More of the justiceTo address barriers that prevent citizens from having their justice needs met, OGP participating governments are working to expand transparency, accountability, and inclusion into all systems of justi... system and opening up educationAccountability within the public education system is key to improving outcomes and attainment, and accountability is nearly impossible without transparent policies and opportunities for participation ... data. Given the priorities of civil society, the next action plan could prioritize more transformative actions on civic participation, judicial transparency, and whistleblower protection.
| Table 1. At a glance
Participating since: 2011 Action plan development Action plan design Action plan implementation *DIOG: Did it Open Government? |
The Open Government PartnershipThe Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving government transparency, ensuring opportunities for citizen participation in public matters, and strengthen... More (OGP) is a global partnership that brings together government reformers and civil society leaders to create action plans that make governments more inclusive, responsive, and accountable. The Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM)The Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) is OGP’s accountability arm and the main means of tracking progress in participating countries. The IRM provides independent, evidence-based, and objective ... monitors all action plans to ensure governments follow through on commitments. The Czech Republic joined OGP in 2011 and has since implemented three action plans. This report evaluates the design of the Czech Republic’s fourth action plan.
General overview of action plan
The Czech Republic’s multistakeholder forum was expanded in 2018 to comply with OGP’s Participation and Co-Creation StandardsCollaboration between government, civil society and other stakeholders is at the heart of the OGP process. The Participation and Co-Creation Standards are intended to support this collaboration throug.... It is now composed of 18 members, evenly balanced with representation from government and civil society. The development of the fourth action plan was an open and consultative process, but it lacked sufficient visibility to reach a wider spectrum of stakeholders.
Commitments in the fourth action plan largely derive from existing government strategies. Despite some awareness raising on whistleblower protection, the action plan does not commit to pass the whistleblower protection law. Overall, the action plan focuses on transparency measures and falls short of commitments that could foster civic participation and public accountabilityAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, public accountability occurs when ”rules, regulations, and mechanisms in place call upon government actors to justify their actions, act upon criticisms ... More.
Two of the eight commitments focus on improving transparency of the judiciaryWhile a majority of open government reforms occur within the executive branch, OGP members are increasingly taking on commitments to increase the openness of the judicial branch. Technical specificati..., which partially responds to the public demand for greater transparency of the justice sector. Half of the commitments in the action plan concern publishing open dataBy opening up data and making it sharable and reusable, governments can enable informed debate, better decision making, and the development of innovative new services. Technical specifications: Polici... statistics and other information related to the functioning of the education system.
Table 2. Noteworthy commitments
| CommitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action... description | Moving forward | Status at the end of implementation cycle. |
| Commitment 3: Publish the decisions of lower courts | This commitment would publish online the texts of decisions by high, regional, and district courts. It is recommended to create a multi-stakeholder working group to advise the Ministry of Justice on the process. Other institutions in the justice system already run databases and could share lessons learnt. | Note: this will be assessed at the end of action plan cycle. |
| Commitment 4: Raise awareness of the issue of whistleblowers on illegal activity | The commitment aims to raise awareness on the importance of whistleblowers and to prepare a comparative analysis on whistleblower protectionsEnsuring that people feel encouraged and safe to report corrupt practices or wrongdoing in the workplace builds a culture of integrity and makes it easier to detect corruption. Technical specificati... in Europe. While it touches upon an important topic there is no commitment to pass the law. Given the importance of the whistleblower protection legislationCreating and passing legislation is one of the most effective ways of ensuring open government reforms have long-lasting effects on government practices. Technical specifications: Act of creating or r..., the IRM recommends continuing focusing on this issue in the next action plan. | Note: this will be assessed at the end of action plan cycle. |
| Commitment 7: Open data from the Czech Schools Inspectorate | This commitment would publish, in open data format, the outcomes of school inspections. However, there are still ongoing discussions on which datasets will be published first and how will the data be updated in the system. | Note: this will be assessed at the end of action plan cycle. |
Recommendations
The IRM recommendations aim to inform the development of the next action plan and guide implementation of the current action plan.
Table 3. Five KEY IRM Recommendations
| 1. Elaborate a long-term open government strategy. Discuss a strategy to identify new areas for commitments, to ensure that the OGP agenda matches the country priorities and can produce long-term results. |
| 2. Continue efforts in opening the court system. Given demonstrated public concerns with the independence of the judiciary, the next action plan needs to continue efforts on judicial transparency and prioritize open justiceAn open, independent, and impartial justice system serves as a foundation for better access to justice by fulfilling all people’s civil liberties and allowing individuals to more effectively protect... reforms. |
| 3. Commit to adopt the whistleblower protection law, creating protections for whistleblowers in line with the newly adopted EU Directive. |
| 4. Facilitate the debate on the reform of access to information. The MSF could facilitate the debate on amendments to the access to information legislation, and the introduction of an oversight body. |
| 5. Promote a further push for open data. Opening data in the areas of environment or transport could be an important next step. |
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