INTEREST BALANCING TESTS IN CROATIAN INFORMATION ADMINISTRATIVE LAW

Abstract

Croatian legislation in the areas of the right to access to information, protection of personal data, protection of secret data, archives, and media law regulates various forms of interest balancing tests. The tests are related to: relative restrictions on the right to access information; the legality of personal data processing and the right to be forgotten;  exceptional access to classified data; certain elements of access to public archival materials;  protection of privacy in the media. In the paper, the important characteristics of the mentioned tests, their purposes, the relationships between respective tests, and the legal procedures in which the tests are applied are theoretically and normatively analyzed  and compared with each other. The origin of tests in the principle of proportionality, legislative  approaches to regulating tests, the constitutional  context of specific tests, and their relationship with administrative discretion are also considered. The  mentioned tests are regulated by law or by regulation of supra-legal force. They are applied individually, in accordance with the circumstances of a specific case. Their purpose is to balance the values and interests protected by the unavailability of  information with the public interest in its availability. Legislatively, they are regulated as stand-alone tests or as tests complementary to stand-alone tests. With rare exceptions, they apply in administrative procedure, with judicial protection in administrative disputes.