An initiative by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) Montenegro will track what happens after citizens, journalists and civil society organizations submit electronic requests to public institutions.
Sending a request for public information may take only a few minutes. Receiving an answer can be a very different matter. But for many people, the difficulty begins even earlier: Understanding what information they can request, which institution to contact, and what they can do if their request is rejected or ignored.
Under Montenegro’s Law on Free Access to Information, anyone can ask a public institution for documents or information it holds, without having to explain why the information is needed. Institutions should normally respond within 15 days. They may provide the requested information, grant access to only part of it, or reject the request with an explanation.
In practice, the process is often less straightforward. Applicants may wait beyond the legal deadline, receive incomplete information or get no answer at all. Filing an appeal is possible, but the procedure can take additional time and may be difficult for people who are unfamiliar with the bureaucratic system.
Montenegro adopted the new Law on Free Access to Information in December 2025, but it did not go into effect until July 8, 2026. Electronic requests are not entirely new: Applicants can already submit them electronically, by email. Digital submission may make a request easier to send, but it cannot guarantee a timely or complete response.
That is the issue BIRN Montenegro plans to examine through its campaign “Click for Transparency: Building Digital Access to Public Information.” BIRN Montenegro is an investigative journalism organization covering transparency, accountability, human rights, and media freedom.
Rather than simply counting how many requests are submitted, the initiative will follow what happens after users press “send.” A practical guide and online training will explain how citizens, journalists, and civil society organizations can submit requests, file appeals, and respond when institutions remain silent.
Users will also be able to report their experiences through an Electronic Civic Reporting tool (ECR). The tool will not replace the official request procedure. Instead, it will record delays, refusals, incomplete answers and other problems encountered after a request has been submitted.
These reports will help BIRN identify patterns, raise questions with the responsible institutions and examine whether the same obstacles appear across different public bodies. The findings will later inform an investigative story as well as discussions with the Agency for Personal Data Protection and Free Access to Information and other institutions.
Waiting months for a 15-day response
Respondents to a 2024 survey by the Montenegrin NGO MASTER described a process marked by long delays and uncertainty. Some respondents said they were left without information about the status of their requests. Others received documents that did not contain the information they had asked for. In such circumstances, even an incomplete answer can seem like progress. Public institutions are normally required to respond within 15 days, yet some applicants receive nothing after months of waiting.
“A freedom of information request was never answered, and I also waited months for documents requested on another basis,” one respondent said.
A right many people have never used
Limited knowledge of the system may prevent people from accessing their rights, even before any request is submitted. MASTER’s 2024 survey found that 67 percent of respondents had never requested access to public information.
The figure shows that the reasons some people never use the procedure are unclear. However, it highlights a bigger problem: Having a legal right means little if people don’t know about it, don’t know what they can ask for, where to send their requests, or how to fight a denial. This issue affects smaller media groups, local organizations, those in rural areas, and users less comfortable with technology. To help, we need clear instructions, easy-to-use tools, and ongoing training. Success will be seen not just in the number of requests but in how well people understand their rights and feel confident to take action.
Authorities acknowledge the problem of “administrative silence”
The problem has also been acknowledged by the authorities. Speaking at a conference on reforming Montenegro’s Law on Free Access to Information, Public Administration Minister Maraš Dukaj said that access to information was a basic right.
“Only proactively published information will reduce administrative silence and the need to submit requests,” Dukaj said.
Proactive publication means that important documents, like decisions and spending records, are shared online without citizens needing to ask for them. However, this also highlights a bigger issue. When institutions don’t communicate well, it puts pressure on those making requests, forcing them to wait or appeal decisions. Even if submitting requests online is easier, it doesn’t help unless institutions share more information and stick to legal deadlines. The real success will depend on timely responses and clear answers to requests. User reports will reveal if problems are common or just occasional.
The real test comes after the request is sent
The first answers will come from the people using the system. Their experiences will show whether electronic requests make access to information easier or simply move the same old access problems online.
The number of requests submitted will not be enough to judge the reform.
What matters is whether institutions answer on time, provide the information requested and explain their decisions when access is refused. The reports submitted by users should help show whether delays and incomplete answers are isolated cases or recurring problems across public institutions.
BIRN Montenegro intends to keep the guide, training materials and reporting tool online after this six-month project ends. Reports submitted by users may also lead to follow-up stories and new questions for the institutions responsible for applying the law. Years of using freedom of information requests in journalistic work have already shown that putting a procedure online does not automatically make an institution more transparent.
Transparency begins when people know their rights and institutions respect them.
