Merz wants to ban internationals from filing FOI requests in Germany

The German government’s controversial plan to water down the Freedom of Information Act includes banning international residents from filing Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.

German gov’t to roll back IFG law

Germany’s CDU/CSU-SPD coalition recently announced a reform package titled “A programme for economic recovery and employment”, which is set to change how many aspects of life in Germany, including healthcare, working life, the tax system, and pensions, are governed.

Close to the bottom of the 34-point programme is a plan to significantly restrict Germany’s Freedom of Information Act (IFG), which permits members of the public and organisations to access information held by public authorities, excluding intelligence authorities.

Under the IFG, public authorities are required to respond to requests promptly and provide information free of charge or for a small fee. Since the law was adopted in 2006, journalists and organisations have employed the IFG to uncover countless cases of government corruption.

Some of the most famous, recent examples include the Amthor scandal, in which Philipp Amthor (CDU) promoted the US tech start-up Augustus Intelligence in the Bundestag while receiving stock options and serving as a director in return. Others include Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg’s involvement in the Wirecard scandal and Christian Lindner’s lobbying for Porsche e-fuels.

Non-German citizens would be banned from filing FOIs

The programme claims that the reform would “make the complicated IFG more understandable and transparent for citizens”. So what does the coalition plan to change?

Five key amendments have been suggested. Perhaps most interesting for IamExpat readers, only German citizens or citizens of another EU country would be able to submit FOI requests. 

The government would permit only individuals, not organisations, such as media or human rights organisations, to submit FOI requests. Individuals would have to prove “legitimate interest” to access the information, but no concrete definition has been provided of what would constitute “legitimate interest”.

The government would remove the current 500-euro cap on FOI request fees. Finally, public officials' names would be redacted from any released documents.

Why does the German gov’t want to restrict access to information?

In its programme, the coalition cited “times of highly complex internal and external threats, both domestic and foreign” as a justification for restricting the public’s access to information about the government and state institutions.

The coalition said it needed to “take greater account of the specific protection needs of certain areas such as critical infrastructure, counter-espionage, counter-terrorism, and scientific research”.

But many organisations see restricting the IFG in the name of national security as an attempt to pull the wool over the public’s eyes at a time when democratic principles are at risk. 

“The German government seems to perceive transparency and freedom of information as threats and an administrative burden instead of essential safeguards in a democracy,” Almaz Treffera, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a press release.

Berlin's commissioner for freedom of information, Meike Kamp, also criticised the plan. “Now more than ever, the state and its authorities should have an interest in ensuring that their actions can be reviewed and understood by the public.”