Freedom of Information Center of Armenia.

After 2.5 years of court proceedings, on June 20, 2011 the Administrative Court satisfied FOICA’s claim against Yerevan Urban Development & Investment PIU State Non-Commercial Organization (SNCO).

It started on February 27, 2009, when FOICA sent a freedom of information request to the Yerevan Urban Development & Investment PIU for the following information:

1. How much money was allocated to the Yerevan Urban Development and Investment PIU SNCO for 2006-2008 years’ State Budget?
2. Which organizations did the SNCO sign contracts with in 2006, 2007 and 2008?
3. What was the volume of the profit of the SNCO received from the signed contracts during 2006, 2007 and 2008 years?

The SNCO responded that the answer to the first question could be found in the “State Budget” Law of the RA of the respective years, while the other two questions contained a commercial secret and could not be released.

FOICA appealed to the RA Administrative Court on July 15, 2009, and the Court dismissed the FOICA’s claim. The court’s rationale was that the SNCO had actually answered the FOICA’s request for information by giving a comprehensive answer to the first part of the request. As for the 2nd and 3rd parts, the answers would contain commercial secrets.  Even though the SNCO was a non-commercial organization and did not pursue any commercial interests, the organizations under SNCO contracts did pursue commercial interests. So, if the SNCO had provided the FOICA with the requested information, it would mean that it was publishing the commercial secrets of those organizations.

In December, 2009 the FOICA appealed the RA Administrative Court’s decision to the RA Court of Cassation, and the higher court fully satisfied FOICA’s claim. The Court of Cassation annulled the RA Administrative Court’s decision over the case FOICA vs. Yerevan Urban Development and Investment PIU and ordered a new review. On June 20, 2011 the RA Administrative Court Satisfied FOICA’s claim.  The SNCO will have to provide the requested information within five days, and compensate FOICA’s expenses for state court fees in the amount of AMD 24,000.

Even though the compensation was not high, the significance lies in the fact that Yerevan Urban Development & Investment PIU is a powerful actor in the construction sector that carries out the majority of construction contracts.  The release of the abovementioned information will become unprecedented, and will open up this information for public discussion.  It will once again remind the state officials of the need to be transparent.  This was also significant to show a certain degree of judicial independence to inspire public trust towards the courts system.

See more: FOICA vs. Yerevan Urban Development & Investment Programs Department