Request for information on the activities of the authorities: is there a need for separate regulation?

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the information request, its relationship with the traditional types of appeals. In particular, on the pages of this work, a comprehensive comparison of the request for information with the application is carried out, the place of the request for information is determined, its role in the existing system of citizens' appeals. The authors have made an attempt to understand the reasons for the existence of special regulation of information requests. The topic is relevant due to the fact that currently law enforcement practice indicates the lack of demand among the general population for such a type of appeal as a request for information, unlike traditional types of appeals. The chosen research topic has received great relevance due to the presence in the vast legal literature of a dispute about the need to unify the legal regulation of public relations related to the realization of the right to appeal and the right to information. The article reflects the positions "for" and "against" the elimination of largely duplicative legal norms. The subject of the study is the provisions of normative legal acts in the field of regulating the types of appeals, their submission and consideration in the exercise by citizens of the constitutional right to both appeal and information. Methodological basis of the research: to solve all the tasks set, general scientific and special legal methods were used, among which general logical methods of cognition (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, generalization), a systematic method, as well as a formal legal method can be distinguished. The scientific novelty of the study is due to the fact that it shows the current state of the normative consolidation of the institute of information request. According to the results of the study, the authors proposed to abandon the irrational accumulation of the legal array and exclude the norms on information requests from the Federal Law "On Ensuring Access to Information on the Activities of State Bodies and Local Governments" and the Federal Law "On Ensuring Access to Information on the Activities of Courts in the Russian Federation". In their opinion, the specifics of dealing with such appeals can be reflected in the Federal Law "On the procedure for considering appeals from Citizens of the Russian Federation." However, it is important to maintain a balance between the interests of the authorities and the rights of citizens to appeal and information in order to prevent unjustified restrictions on these rights.