Ukraine Enhances Measures to Ease Access to Public Information

KYIV, Ukraine, May 6, 2011 - President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych signed two decrees
related to the new Law on access to public information which will come into
force on May 9, 2011. The decrees enforce control over the implementation
mechanism of the Law and assign the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to
allocate the necessary funding required to implement it.

The new decrees stipulate the unconditional fulfillment of the
Law on access to public information by Ukrainian government executive bodies
and enforce constitutional rights of individuals to freely collect, store,
use and disseminate information within Ukrainian legislation. In addition,
the government executive bodies have to come up with unified approach for
registration, storage and use of proprietary information.

The objective of the Law on Access to Public Information,
adopted on January 13, 2011 by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (Parliament of
Ukraine - Ed.), is to expand the rights of citizens to obtain information
from public bodies, which would make the work of officials more open and
transparent and, consequently, increase control over public power, reports an
advisor to the president of Ukraine Olena Lukash. One of the most important
features of the Law is the personal responsibility of the heads of central
and local executive bodies to properly ensure proper implementation of the
law including granting population access to public information.

The new measures and the Law on access to public information
are a part of a series of reforms in judicial, criminal justice, tax, and
public administrative sectors, that Ukraine started to introduce in 2010. The
new Law on Principles of Prevention and Combating Corruption in Ukraine is
another integral part of national reforms.

The anticorruption law stipulates that government officials
and their close relatives now are obliged to declare their income and, what
is more important, any expenses that exceed their income and publish such
financial declarations in the official press.

The anticorruption law will take effect on July 1, 2011,
except for the article on financial control, which will come into force as of
Jan. 1, 2012. The new law requires all government officials including head of
the state and members of the parliament to bear criminal and/or
administrative responsibility for acts of corruption.

For more information, contact Maryna Khorunzha +380443324784 news at wnu-ukraine.com, Project Manager at Worldwide News Ukraine