TransPArenti+1 (IT0019)

The initiative, called “trasPArenti+1” aims at promoting and fostering the active participation of citizens in the ANAC monitoring activity. This initiative has two main purposes: it aims at spreading the use of the access to information (accesso civico) by public entities and increasing the efforts to enhance transparency, as total accessibility of all information on institutional websites of public administrations (Legislative decree no. 33/2013, articles 1 and 2).

Commitment 3. TransPArent + 1

Commitment Text:

The initiative, called “trasPArenti+1” aims at promoting and fostering the active participation of citizens in the ANAC monitoring activity. This initiative has two main purposes: it aims at spreading the use of the access to information (accesso civico) by public entities and increasing the efforts to enhance transparency, as total accessibility of all information on institutional websites of public administrations (Legislative decree no. 33/2013, articles 1 and 2).

Specific objectives

In order to attain the objective, we need to re-engineer the citizens’ communication web interface “Communicate with ANAC.” through specific actions aimed at:

-enhancing the functionality, simplifying the front-end interface data acquisition and their quality (participatory supervision);

-strengthening external communication tools online;

-developing the back-end functionality, creating a platform for the internal management and processing of data (database), which enables:

-to interpret – for corruption prevention purposes - all the information obtained also on the basis of corruption risk indicators that can be possibly identified by the Authority with reference to specific areas of activity of public administrations;

-to report externally (web publication) the results of supervisory activities operated by the citizen (accountability);

-encourage the use by citizens of the access to information (accesso civico) through appropriate awareness- raising and civic monitoring initiatives jointly developed with civil society organisations.

Responsible institution: ANAC

Supporting institution(s): -

Start date: January 2015                                                End date: June 2016

Commitment Aim:

This commitment aimed at improving citizen participation in monitoring anti-corruption activities carried out by the National Anti-corruption Authority set up by the government.   More specifically, the commitment set out to

· Expand the use of access to information provisions called “civic access”

· Increased the accessibility of transparency-relevant information on the institutional websites of all public administrations as required by the law (Legislative decree no. 33/2013, articles 1 and 2).

Status

Mid-term: Limited

The government had taken some preliminary steps in preparation to the implementation of this commitment. The aim of the initial activities was to continue and evolve an existing initiative: the Anti Corruption Authority (ANAC), a web platform developed in 2013 to facilitate communication between the Authorities and citizens:  “Comunica con l'Autorità”^{[Note 5: http://campagnatrasparenza.anticorruzione.it]}. According to their self-assessment review, the government also started working on drafting the “Regulation concerning surveillance activities for transparency obligations and corruption prevention measures” which intends to reorganize and level out the surveillance activity carried out by ANAC in the field of transparency and anticorruption.

End of term: Limited

Based on the monitoring activity of the above website conducted by the IRM researcher, there was no further progress on the implementation. A post on the website made on October 2016 declared that the use of the web platform had been temporarily suspended. The website further indicated that the use of the platform was pending due to the need to comply with the provisions of the newly adopted legislative decree 97/2016 (so called Madia decree) aiming at simplifying provisions about corruption prevention and transparency^{[Note 6: On 5 October 2016, ANAC released an official note signed by its president Raffaele Cantone that “the use of the web platform (then called “Campagna Transparenza”) – would be temporarily suspended pending the necessary changes to make the system comply with the new provisions.” http://www.anticorruzione.it/portal/public/classic/AttivitaAutorita/AttiDellAutorita/_Atto?ca=6608}

]. It is important to note that anti-corruption measures through increased transparency and scrutiny by the public has been a major component of the public administration reform. As stated in the government’s self-assessment, it was crucial to coordinate and align with the government’s anti-corruption body (ANAC). The reform had been widely promoted as a way to boost the economy, rebuild citizen trust in the government and modernize the provision of public services.

Did it open government?

Access to information: Did not change

Civic Participation: Did not change

In order to promote a more effective anti-corruption strategy, the government intended to engage the public and promote proactive disclosure of all relevant information on public authorities’ websites. To do so the government planned to strengthen an existing platform run by the Anti-corruption authority by improving the interface and the communication tools to better engage users. However, due to the need to comply with a new policy change the platform has been temporarily suspended thus hampering its potential to increase access to information and civic participation.

The commitment aimed at spreading access to information and enhancing total disclosure by public bodies by allowing citizens to exercise their right to "civic access". However, civic access was not in line with the international standards of FOIA legislation as it granted access only to specific information about the transparency obligations of any public bodies. This was recognized in the Legislative decree no. 33/2013, articles 1 and 2. In that sense, the right to civic access regarded only information on the institutional websites of public administrations and their obligation to disclose certain information on those websites. The platform allowed citizens to report those public administrations who were not in compliance with such provisions. This made it a tool provided to citizens to monitor compliance of public disclosure obligations.

However, civic access did not granted the right to access as envisaged by the international standards of FOIA legislation. Furthermore, this initiative had a limited timeframe during which no relevant changes occurred on the quantity and quality of the information disclosed and available to citizens.

Carried forward?

The scope of this commitment is now included in commitment 8 of the third action plan which has the same responsible authority (ANAC) and has the overall goal of clarifying and simplifying the procedures for the publication of data by public authorities. This commitment aims to encourage widespread forms of control by citizens, the exercise of institutional functions and the use of public resources. It would do so by developing guidelines for the publication of documents, information and data that the law requires published on the websites of administrations and entities subject to the legislation on anti-corruption and transparency. Commitment 8 also mentions the activation of initiatives of civic monitoring on such provisions.