M.O.O.C. Unito

Among the studied countries, Slovenia is the youngest democracy and the only one with the right to information of public nature enshrined in its Constitution. 

On the opposite side, there is Austria, whose 1922 Constitution still includes amtsgeheimnis (official secrecy) protecting administrative and government information from disclosure. 

This polarisation is further confirmation that the openness of the public administration is a principle which is still in its infancy and, in general, open data as a principle has come across strong resistance by the public administration itself until very recently, and is today facing the challenge of its full implementation. 

Aside from Austria, all countries (some more explicitly, i.e. France, Italy and Estonia) have opted for the principle of open data by default and enacted a Freedom of Information Act. Estonia and Romania are the forerunners, given that their Freedom of Information legislation dates back to the beginning of the century. 

Earlier or later, all of the studied Member States joined the Open Government Partnership (OGP), except for Austria and Slovenia.

Italy and France have specific rules to provide open data on public procurement. 

In Italy, most of the provisions are found in the anti-corruption and transparency laws, while the regulations in France are found in the Public Procurement Code.