The Constitutional Right to Information in the Czech Republic: Theory and Practice

This article deals both with the legal regulation and practical experience with the right to free access to information in the Czech Republic. It presents basic features of constitutional and legal regulation. The issue of the effectiveness of the mechanisms available to an applicant for information in the event that the obliged entity does not want to provide said information, as well as the problem of conflict with the right to privacy (in the case of providing information on public employees' salaries are discussed in detail. The article illustrates how the right to free access to information is very widely used in the Czech Republic, in particular due to liberal legal regulation and the very friendly approach of administrative courts, without the need for a robust constitutional basis. However, maintaining this situation is also dependent on the Constitutional Court, which has recently become more restrictive when the right to free access to information conflicts with other rights.