Access to Information and Open Data (MD0069)

1. Ensuring access to information and promoting the use of open data by citizens
Lead implementing
agency/actor Ministries, other central administrative authorities,
public institutions, State Chancellery, E-Governance Agency
Commitment description
What is the public problem that the commitment will address? The commitment will address the issues related to publication of information and open data in a timely manner and publication of information about government progress across sectors. Additionally, some authorities will work on improving ways of presenting the information to the public in an interactive manner.
What is the commitment? Commitment refers to ensuring access to information and promoting the use of open data by citizens and thus, improving availability of information about Governments’ activity.
How will the commitment contribute to solve the public problem? Access to information contributes to improving public services and creates a more transparent and accountable governance. Access to open data allows individuals and organizations to develop and generate new ideas and services with social and economic impact. The commitment consists of activities aiming at improving availability and re-use of open data, access to information in some priority fields, interactive visualization of data as well as creating information systems in order to facilitate access to information to personal profile.
Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values? Access to information
Milestone Activity with a verifiable deliverable Responsible authority Deadline Progress indicators
Assessing citizens’ needs when it comes to open government data Ministries, other central administrative authorities,
public institutions, State Chancellery, E-Governance Agency Annual Number of needs-assessment surveys implemented
Publishing open data on governmental portal http://www.date.gov.md, following the open data standards Ministries, other central administrative authorities,
public institutions, State Chancellery, E-Governance Agency Annual Number of updated / published datasets
Conducting communication sessions and capability building events for open data user community on data ranging from public procurement, health, transport, social system, environment, other sectors, followed by the development of web based applications State Chancellery, Ministries, other central administrative authorities, E-Governance Agency
Annual Number of events organized,
number of participants/ trainees
Performing activities in order to ensure access to information on citizens' social rights, especially for marginalized/vulnerable groups Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection,
Medicines and Medical Devices Agency Annual Information campaigns organized,
number of advertisements performed,
Space set up for
Documentation in the institution
Updating citizens on fulfilled commitments under the Association Agreement Republic of Moldova - European Union Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration
Semester Published reports,
number of roundtables organized
Enhancing the transparency of the state-owned economic entities by publishing information on the results of the annual financial monitoring of the economic and financial activity of the state owned entities Ministry of Finance,
Public Property Agency
Annual Information made available on the economic and financial activity of the state-owned economic entities
Developing the Management Information System in Education by creating the possibility of interactive data visualization and completing it with data from preschool and primary schools along with data from VET sector Ministry of Education, Culture and Research Quarter IV, 2020 Functional Web interface,
number of new institutions connected to the system
Developing the interface/official page of the Agency for Interventions and Payments in Agriculture in order to ensure interactive and easy access to data on grants applicants Ministry of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment,
Agency for Intervention and Payments for Agriculture Quarter IV, 2019 Official website developed and updated
Establishing an information desk for detainees in order to facilitate access to information in their personal files Ministry of Justice, National Penitentiary Administration Quarter IV, 2020 Specifications developed,
software developed / purchased,
number of purchased equipment,
functional desk
Developing the Information System for data exchange in the field of protection of intellectual property rights (e-IPR system) State Agency for Intellectual Property, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Customs Service, Agency for Court Administration, Agency for Consumer Protection and Market Surveillance Quarter II, 2019 Functional system

1. Access to information and use of open data

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan: Ensuring access to information and promoting the use of open data by citizens [1]

The commitment will address the issues related to publication of information and open data in a timely manner and publication of information about government progress across sectors. Additionally, some authorities will work on improving ways of presenting the information to the public in an interactive manner.

Milestones

• Assessing citizens’ needs when it comes to open government data
• Publishing open data on governmental portal http://www.date.gov.md, following the open data standards
• Conducting communication sessions and capability building events for open data user community on data ranging from public procurement, health, transport, social system, environment, other sectors, followed by the development of web based applications
• Performing activities in order to ensure access to information on citizens' social rights, especially for marginalized/vulnerable groups
• Updating citizens on fulfilled commitments under the Association Agreement Republic of Moldova - European Union
• Enhancing the transparency of the state-owned economic entities by publishing information on the results of the annual financial monitoring of the economic and financial activity of the state owned entities
• Developing the Management Information System in Education by creating the possibility of interactive data visualization and completing it with data from preschool and primary schools along with data from VET sector
• Developing the interface/official page of the Agency for Interventions and Payments in Agriculture in order to ensure interactive and easy access to data on grants applicants
• Establishing an information desk for detainees in order to facilitate access to information in their personal files
• Developing the Information System for data exchange in the field of protection of intellectual property rights (e-IPR system)

Start Date: 2019              

End Date: 2020

Context and Objectives

This commitment includes 10 milestones that aim to improve government practice in providing access to information and promoting the use of open data by citizens. Although access to information in Moldova is regulated by law [2], compliance with the law is weak since there is no single body responsible for its enforcement. [3] According to the law, [4] access to information can be restricted when requests involve confidential business information, state secrets, and personal data. Journalists and civil society note [5] that responses to information requests are often delayed or rejected under the Personal Data Protection Act of 2011 [6] due to highly extensive interpretations of the exceptions provided under the Act.

Moldova has a strong legal framework and infrastructure regarding open data. The country launched an open data portal (data.gov.md) in 2011, where data produced by the government is uploaded (observing the legal limitations). [7] Under commitments 3a and 3b from the third action plan (2016-2018), Moldova saw improvements in the publication of government-held data, particularly in the education sector.

Milestones 1.1 and 1.2 include assessing citizens’ specific open data needs and opening data on date.gov.md (observing open data standards), respectively. While these milestones are verifiable, they do not clarify how the needs assessment will be conducted or which data will be published in open data, considering the large amount of data that could potentially be uploaded to date.gov.md.

Furthermore, the government will conduct capacity-building events (1.3) and ensure access to information on citizens’ social rights, especially for marginalized/vulnerable groups (1.4). The Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection clarified that this is a routine activity organized by various departments of the Ministry and that “marginalized/vulnerable groups” include several categories of beneficiaries. [8] Updating citizens on the implementation of the EU-Moldova Association Agreement (1.5) also represents a routine activity, as progress reports on its implementation are published quarterly and annually on the webpage of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration (MFAEI). [9] The website http://dcfta.md/ is also used to inform the general public (especially the business community) about the advantages and benefits offered by the EU-Moldova Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA), a part of the Association Agreement. This milestone represents a continuation of milestone 3.7 in Moldova’s third action plan (2016-2018), during which the MFAEI published a report in May 2018 with updates from 2017. [10] Publishing information on the results of the annual financial monitoring of the economic and financial activities of state-owned entities (1.6) also represents a routine annual activity, according to the Public Property Agency. [11]

Milestone 1.7 on continuing to develop the Education Management Information System (EMIS) [12] to include data from the vocational education and training (VET) sector can be verified. However, there are concerns among stakeholders regarding the quality and accuracy of data in the current modules of the system, which extend to the future VET module as well. [13] According to an interviewed expert, data is often corrupted, the quality of training of education institutions who enter the data is low, and there is a lack of capacity at the Ministry of Education, Research and Culture to work on this system. [14] It could contribute to improving access to this information, but the inclusion of qualitative indicators would have helped to determine its potential impact.

Milestone 1.8 focuses on developing the interface/official page of the Agency for Interventions and Payments in Agriculture (AIPA) in order to ensure easy access to data on grants applicants. According to the Head of the IT Department, M. Podubnyi, [15] this activity refers to the development of an interactive map on the AIPA webpage which will allow access to the list of grant beneficiaries per district (rayon). Though this activity could make access to information easier, it will not lead to more information being published, as the information on grants beneficiaries is already available on the AIPA's website.

The final two milestones cover the development of e-systems in their respective fields. The establishment of an information desk for detainees to facilitate access to information from their personal files (1.9) is a component of the e-folder system which was tested in 2019. This activity could allow detainees to access information without having to go through lawyers and bureaucratic steps to access the information. [16] Milestone 1.10 focuses on developing an information system for data exchange in the protection of intellectual property rights (the e-IPR system). The e-IPR system will be placed on the government’s common technology platform MCloud [17] and will integrate data from different stakeholders (police force, customs, prosecutor’s office, etc.) on a single platform. Though this data is currently available, it is spread across different databases managed by different stakeholders. The new system could improve the observation of intellectual property rights in Moldova, a commitment taken by Moldova under the EU Association Agreement Action Plan 2017-2019. [18]

The activities under this commitment could improve access to information in the different areas addressed by the milestone. However, many activities represent continuations of existing government policies and would not necessarily lead to the disclosure of more information compared to before the start of the action plan. Therefore, the overall potential impact for this commitment is considered minor.

Next steps

The IRM recommends that future action plans clearly separate activities on access to information from those on open data into separate commitments. This could help ensure better cohesion between the milestones and thus better implementation. At the same time, when milestones are taken from other government strategies or policy documents, they could be disaggregated into smaller activities that are more relevant for the action plan.

Based on the IRM findings for previous Moldovan action plans and other research in the field, [19] steps could be taken to ensure that all government agencies observe the implementation of the Law on Access to Information. Preferably, a consideration could be given to establish an oversight body to monitor how this legislation is enforced. Furthermore, the IRM researcher recommends conducting an assessment of the current situation to determine legal and practical gaps in access to information. If any gaps are determined, the next action plan could include a commitment to address them.

On open data, the IRM recommends adopting the Open Data Charter [20] to ensure public information can be accessed and re-used by the general public, experts, journalists and businesses. The government could consider conducting a technical assessment to ensure filters and information displays are functioning properly on data.gov.md. Additionally, the IRM recommends tasking one entity to coordinate the open data strategy among all government agencies and ministries. Each institution is currently responsible for publishing their own datasets, but the list of datasets to be opened is not always available or clear. Lastly, the IRM recommends the government conduct an open data user needs assessment in order to decide upon a standardized, user-friendly format for publishing data.

[1] OGP, Moldova Action Plan 2018-2020, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/moldova-action-plan-2018-2020

[2] Law on Access to Information No. 982 of 11.05.2000 with amendments, http://lex.justice.md/md/311759/

[3] Freedom House, Moldova Stakeholder Universal Periodic Review, https://freedomhouse.org/article/moldova-stakeholder-submission-universal-periodic-review

[4] Law on Access to Information No. 982 of 11.05.2000 with amendments, http://lex.justice.md/md/311759/

[5] IRM, Moldova Mid-Term Report 2016-2018, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Moldova_Mid-Term_IRM-Report_2016-2018_EN.pdf

[6] Law on the Personal Data Protection of 08.07.2011, http://www.asp.gov.md/ro/node/1305

[7] Central Governmental Platform of Open Data, https://date.gov.md/home/about

[8] Telephone interview with the Department of Policy Analysis, Monitoring and Assessment, 5 April 2019.  

[9] Telephone discussion with the Department of European Integration, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, 5 April 2019; Website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, section on Association Agreement Reports, https://www.mfa.gov.md/ro/content/rapoarte-aa

[10] IRM, Republic of Moldova, End-of-Term Report 2016-2018, p 29, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Moldova_End-of-Term_Report_2016-2018_EN.pdf

[11] Interview with Vrabie Natalia, Department of Public Property Administration, Agency of Public Property, March 2019.

[12] More information about the EMIS system can be found in the Mid-Term and End-of-Term IRM Reports 2016-2018: https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Moldova_End-of-Term_Report_2016-2018_EN.pdf and https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Moldova_Mid-Term_IRM-Report_2016-2018_EN.pdf

[13] Interview Tatiana Sava, 1 April 2019, Researcher at Expert-Grup Independent Think Tank, and Project Coordinator of the “My School” Analysis Project implemented by Expert-Grup with the support of the Global Partnership for Social Accountability of the World Bank (http://scoalamea.md/)

[14] Ibid.

[15] Telephone interview with M.Podubnyi, the head of the Information Department, AIPA, 4 April 2019.

[16] Interview with Ion Guzun, Legal Resources Center, 5 April 2019.

[17] E-Government Agency, http://egov.md/en/projects/m-cloud

[18] Telephone interview with the State Agency for Intellectual Property, 5 April 2019.

[19] Freedom House Report on Access to Information and Media Independence in Moldova, https://www.rcmediafreedom.eu/Publications/Reports/Moldova-Access-to-Information-and-Media-Independence ; Handbook on Transparency and Citizen Participation: Moldova, Council of Europe, https://rm.coe.int/moldova-handbook-on-transparency-and-citizen-participation-en/16807893c1

[20] Open Data Charter, https://opendatacharter.net/

1. Access to information and use of open data

Completion: Substantial

For milestone 1.1, the Electronic Governance Agency (EGA) and the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure conducted two surveys in 2019 to assess the open governmental data needs of users. [21] EGA was still analyzing the results of these surveys by the end of the action plan period. [22] In addition, the Ministry of Finance conducted its own survey in 2020 on the prioritization of its open data. [23]

Under milestone 1.2, the government modernized the date.gov.md portal in 2019, renaming it the Governmental Data Portal and restructuring it into three parts. [24] [25] During the action plan period, the Republic of Moldova added 55 new datasets to the portal, [26] reaching a total of 1,136. EGA held 74 information sessions on open data in 2019 and seven during the first six months of 2020. [27]

For milestones 1.3 and 1.4, the Ministry of Health, Social Protection and Labor (MHSPL) conducted several activities in 2019 to promote equal rights and the access of persons with disabilities to employment. [28] In November 2019, MHSPL launched a nationwide campaign to fight gender-based violence. [29] MHSPL informed citizens on changes to social benefits laws and regulations through its webpage [30] while local-level social workers informed beneficiaries of their social rights. [31] MHSPL also set up an information stand outside its entrance with brochures and other materials. [32] In 2020, MHSPL re-focused its information activities to address the COVID-19 pandemic. This included broadcasting radio and video spots, sharing infographics online, conducting “Stay at Home” campaigns, and launching a COVID-19 statistics visualization tool. [33]

For milestone 1.5, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration (MFAEI) posted the 2017-2019 report on the implementation of the Republic of Moldova – EU Association Agreement (AA) in 2019. [34] MFAEI continued to regularly provide information about the AA as well as the Republic of Moldova’s Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas (DCFTA) with the EU on the webpage http://dcfta.md/. In addition, in 2020, MFAEI created eight quizzes about the EU and the visa liberalization regime for the Republic Moldova. [35] Lastly, the MFAEI State Secretary participated in the “EU Debates Cafe” project and discussed the EU’s support to the Republic of Moldova and the post-COVID-19 recovery. [36]

For milestone 1.6, the Ministry of Finance published the financial monitoring synthesis of state-owned enterprises economic-financial activity for 2019, [37] a synthesis for first quarter of 2020, [38] and the Public Property Agency published the results of the economic-financial activity of state-owned enterprises. [39]

For milestone 1.7, the Ministry of Education, Research and Culture, and the Center for Information and Communications Technologies in Education, developed two additional modules in 2020 for the Education Management Information System (EMIS) [40]: preschool data [41] and vocational education and training (VET) data. [42] The VET module was developed, and data from 2019 were entered, [43] after training provided in August 2020. [44] The 2020 VET institutions began entering their data into EMIS. The preschool module was piloted in three to four institutions, but it is not yet populated with data due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [45] According to stakeholders working in the field, further improvements on entering and verifying data in EMIS are needed, as inconsistencies still make the data unreliable. [46]

For milestone 1.8. the Agency for Interventions and Payments in Agriculture (AIPA) developed a map of subventions provided to farmers. [47] The map shows the grant beneficiaries per district (rayon), presenting in a more interactive way information that was already available online.

For milestone 1.9, the National Administration of Penitentiaries developed the technical concept for the information desk for detainees to facilitate their access to personal files, based on the British Unilink Software. [48] A budget draft was presented to the government, but financing has not yet been identified. [49] Finally, for milestone 1.10, the State Agency on Intellectual Property (AGEPI) worked on the legal framework [50] for the information system for data exchanges between state institutions on the protection of intellectual property rights (e-IPR). [51] EGA and AGEPI also identified the technical specifications for the integration of the system in MCloud. [52] The pilot will start once the legal framework is approved, possibly by the end of 2020. [53]

Overall, this commitment did not significantly change the Republic of Moldova’s open data and access to information practices compared to the previous action plan cycle. [54] Despite the restructuring of the date.gov.md portal, several deficiencies remain. These include a lack of clarity on which data public authorities must publish on the platform, the ownership of the platform, and the search function and data update policy. There are also no common standards for publishing data on the platform, and the available data is often of questionable relevance to users and stakeholders. [55] Furthermore, access to information practices continue to vary by ministry and agency, and the overall situation mostly remained unchanged compared to prior to the action plan. [56] Some areas like health and education became less open and participative, [57] while others saw slight improvements in openness, such as information and data from the Ministry of Finance. [58]