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Access to public information has been promoted throughout a myriad of international and national documents of high significance, such as: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights, the Constitution of the Republic of North Macedonia, and the Law on Free Access to Public Information. The citizens of North Macedonia are obliged to respect the Constitution and the laws, but the latter are subjected to frequent changes, making it very difficult for the citizens to get hold of the version in use. While the European Union and most of its member states provide free of charge online access to consolidated versions of laws and other relevant legislative texts, in North Macedonia this service is available only upon payment. The Covid-19 crisis has merely intensified the ongoing trends of computer and internet-based business doing, and the dynamic digital environment should nonetheless be followed up by a convenient and easily accessible legislation repositories. Adhering to the Free Access to Law Movement and taking into consideration the variety of approaches deployed by various European countries, we are talking to legal practitioners and relevant stakeholders in North Macedonia, revealing their viewpoints on the topic. At the end we are laying out recommendations on the steps that need to be taken and the model that needs to be implemented toward the provision of free online access to consolidated texts of North Macedonia's legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today citizens are increasingly becoming an equal entity with state institutions which have responsibility to ensure protection of their rights, accountability, openness and transparency in its operations - as the basic principles upon which rests the principle of good governance. The traditional model of not transparent administration today disappears step by step. Adoption of a law of free access to public information in many countries in the world which seek to enhance democracy in their societies today is a process that can not stop. Nowadays, countries that do not have such a law can not claim that they have full democracy. One of the reasons for passing this law is reducing corruption. Corruption is based on secrecy. Citizens and institutions become corrupted when the public has no insight into their work. If the work of public institutions is transparent and offered for public inspection, then the chance for them to be corrupt is smaller. This paper analyzes the Law of free access to public information in the Republic of Macedonia and its application; the situation in Macedonia after the adoption of the law; concluding that despite some inconsistencies, the law has contributed to increasing transparency and reducing corruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]