Legal Evaluation of the Freedom of Information Act of Schleswig-Holstein (IZG-SH) Completed

The NIPAG evaluated the Freedom of Information Act of Schleswig-Holstein. Recommendations were developed to improve implementation and reduce administrative burdens.

The evaluation of the Freedom of Information Act of the State of Schleswig-Holstein (IZG-SH) was carried out by the NIPAG on behalf of the Ministry of the Interior, Municipal Affairs, Housing and Sports. The IZG-SH governs free access to information and has required state authorities since 2017 to proactively publish certain types of content. At the same time, an evaluation clause was introduced, with results to be presented to the state parliament in 2025.

In February 2022, the NIPAG was commissioned to evaluate the publication obligation; in April 2024, the mandate was expanded to cover the entire Act.

The evaluation focused on the following key areas:
1. the use of the right of access to information and of the transparency portal,
2. the comparison of the IZG-SH with other freedom of information and transparency laws,
3. the distinction between access rights and confidentiality provisions as well as relevant case law,
4. the administrative workload associated with information and publication obligations.

The evaluation followed an interdisciplinary approach based on methods of retrospective regulatory impact assessment. The data sources included metadata and usage data of the transparency portal, a survey of all state authorities, and interviews with administrative staff and the State Commissioner for Access to Information. This was complemented by a text-mining analysis of frequently accessed content.

On this foundation, recommendations were developed to improve implementation and reduce administrative burdens.