On September 23 the National Assembly of Armenia passed in the third hearing and finally the RA Law "On Freedom of Information", voting unanimously for the bill. As it has been reported, the draft law was initiated by the Yerevan Press Club in as far back as 2000, was further worked on by the RA National Assembly deputies Viktor Dallakian and Vardan Bostanjian. After the draft was passed in the first hearing, in October last year, in its further improvement, apart from the members of the two Parliament Committees (on state and legal issues and on science, education, culture and youth issues), experts of YPC, Freedom of Information Center of the Association of Investigative Journalists of Armenia, the Civil Society Development Union, Internews Armenia took part. The majority of the proposals submitted by these organizations was approved during the adoption of the document in the second hearing (see details in YPC Weekly Newsletter, March 15-21, 2003).
In the opinion of the experts, the Law "On Freedom of Information" is, in overall, progressive and ensures the right to access and receipt of information. It should also be noted that as of today the work on the draft is probably the rare example of smooth and effective cooperation of NGOs and deputies.
