Shel'menkov V.N. Legal provision of official data access in Germany

Abstract: The article considers the citizens' and organisations' access to the information about the activities of state structures in Germany; it claims that everyone has the right to access to official documents. In Germany the components mentioned are contained in the General Law of Germany. The article considers the principles and ways of data access privision, the forms of granting, the rights and responsibilities of users of the information, the state authorities and their officials. The article considers the access to the information about the state structures activities in databases, on DVDs, in journals and in electronic form. The infornation can also be transmitted through the media, put on the stands in the rooms where the state authorities act, stored in libraries and archive collections, etc. The study deals with the issues of data access on user's demand including the demand requirements, the terms and the order of a demand consideration, the requirements to the reply on the demand. The author analyzes the normative legal regulation and the judicial practice of official data access provision in Germany. There are different sources of official information in Germany. They can be divided into private and state. The access to laws and legal acts is granted through the publication of laws in the Federal bulletin of laws. The author supposes that not all the citizens have a free access to the official information in Germany. 

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