Today, on September 28, the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA) traditionally celebrated the international Right to Know Day.

To mark the celebration, GYLA held simultaneous events in its offices in Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Gori and Telavi under the frames of the project Promotion of Transparency and Accountability in Georgia.

In Tbilisi GYLA held a presentation of the research prepared on Issuing Permission for Street Vending on the Territory of Tbilisi, as well as the public information database of GYLA.

GYLA’s research on Issuing Permission for Street Vending on the Territory of Tbilisi focuses on lawfulness of the process, main trends and problems revealed in practice of issuing permits by the Tbilisi Architecture Service for placing temporary edifices and/or facilities for street vending in public areas on the territory of Tbilisi. The research disclosed facts of biased decisions, existence of “privileged” companies, as well as lack of substantiation of decisions made.

Today GYLA also held a public presentation of its public information database www.gyla.ge/foib, which serves the purpose of providing easy public access to information obtained by GYLA from public agencies. The database enables all interested individuals to familiarize with original documents provided by public entities and also to receive information about issues that GYLA takes interest in and documents that serve as the a foundation for GYLA’s position.

In regional offices particular attention was paid to FOI-related issues in the regions and obstacles that GYLA faces in the process of soliciting public information, with a particular emphasis on failure of the authorities to provide information on construction of the Parliament Building in Kutaisi.