Khmelnytskyi City Council declined a query by ZHAR.INFO with a request for the findings which specialised departments provide for the draft decisions submitted for review. The media outlet plans to appeal the decision, ZHAR.INFO founder and editor Maria Turchyna reports to Alyona Bereza, the Institute of Mass Information representative in Khmelnytskyi oblast.
The team sent the query to the City Council on 14 October 2025, asking for the findings for six draft decisions (now decisions). On 20 October, the Department for Ensuring the Work of the City Council responded with a refusal to provide these documents, saying that the information is considered official secret as per the mayor’s amended 27 November 2019 decree No. 287-R.
“Documents containing information that is considered official are classified as ‘for official use’. Access to such documents is provided in accordance with Part II of Article 6 of this Law,” the department’s response stated. “There are no legal grounds for providing findings by specialized departments,” it added.
Tetyana Oleksiyuk, vice-president of the Council of Europe Access Info Group said that the response was unlawful because the information holder did not substantiate it with a three-step test.
“The information being classified, included in the List of Information for Official Use (IOU), or falling under the definition of one of the categories of official information is not a basis for a refusal. Each specific case of refusal warrants a three-step test, an assessment the potential harm from the dissemination of this information and the public interest in the information, and a conclusion on the balance of interests,” she said.
According to the expert, the information holder is allowed to compile IOU Lists and classify documents — this is possible (where appropriate) to maintain the regime of access to information — but the reply to a query must contain the three-step test findings.
The media outlet added that they plan to file a complaint with the parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights to challenge the information holder’s actions.