The freedom of information legal framework is good on paper in the six Western Balkan countries but enforcement and political will are lacking, while journalists continue to face “administrative silence”, bureaucracy, and intimidation, a new report based on BIRN journalists’ work during 2024, launched on Monday, concluded.

The report analysed 1,015 Freedom of Information, FOI requests filed by BIRN journalists in the six Western Balkan countries of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia.

“Compared to previous reports, some improvement was detected when it came to public institutions’ responses to BIRN journalists’ FOI requests,” the report noted, referring to a quantitative improvement.

The full-response rate rose slightly to 55.86 per cent “while the share of unanswered requests (administrative silence) dropped significantly from 56.7 per cent in 2022 to 23.35 per cent in 2024”.

“However, nearly half of all requests were still met with rejection, partial responses or administrative silence, which remains a widespread tactic to evade accountability (particularly pronounced in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo),” the report concluded.

Over the years, BIRN’s annual reports on the issue have revealed a consistent pattern of journalists’ FOI requests not being legally rejected but avoided by “administrative silence”. This includes not answering requests for information at all, delaying responses, providing non-relevant information and bureaucratic obstruction, which can extend the waiting period or deny a response altogether.

“BIRN journalists reported frequent institutional obstruction, such as excessive bureaucratic requirements, procedural delays and deliberate misdirection. These barriers, combined with weak appeal mechanisms in some countries (notably Serbia), often render legal guarantees meaningless in practice,” the report explains.

“Additionally, journalists face growing hostility, legal intimidation (including SLAPP cases) and institutional non-cooperation, especially when investigating sensitive topics like corruption, environmental harm and AI surveillance,” it adds.

According to the report, the political will for transparency is lacking. Even when reforms for freedom of information are introduced, they do not necessarily yield quick results, as in the case of Bosnia, especially in the Brcko District, and in North Macedonia, and Serbia, were legal reforms were initiated in 2024 but where the results are not clear as yet.

Meanwhile, “Montenegro has not completed a reform initiated four years ago”, it noted.

Oversight bodies lack funds, human capacities, and enforcement mechanisms, and often are not politically independent, meaning that public institutions that refuse to comply with FOI laws do not face consequences at all, or face very few.

“Across the region, public institutions continue to exploit broad legal exemptions, often citing data secrecy, confidentiality clauses or ongoing investigations to withhold information, even in high public interest cases. This trend is exacerbated by the uneven enforcement of FOI laws, with oversight bodies frequently under-resourced and lacking effective sanctioning mechanisms,” the report highlighted.

The report recommended that governments “promote transparency and accountability in the public sector through proactive transparency practices and communication with media; reform legal frameworks transparently [FOI and related laws amendment]; digitise FOI processes [by centralisation]; protect journalists from retaliation [by prohibition and punishment of SLAPPs and other intimidation against journalists]”.

According to the report, independent FOI institutions should work on enforcement by pushing for stronger laws, holding institutions accountable, prioritising journalistic complaints and investing in capacity-building.

It said journalists and media associations should use strategic litigation, and document and publicise obstruction by issuing databases or reports on institutions’ approaches towards their FOI requests. They should also cooperate and invest in training and legal teams, it added.

The report is available in English, Albanian, and BHS.