THE LAW ON FREE ACCESS TO INFORMATION I. BASIC PROVISIONS Article 1 Access to the information filed with government agencies shall be free, whereas it shall be exercised in the manner prescribed by this Law. Any national or foreign legal and natural entity shall be entitled to access the information filed with government agencies. Access to the information shall be guaranteed upon the principles and the standards contained in international documents dealing with the issues of human rights and freedoms. Article 2 Access to the information filed with government agencies shall be grounded in the following principles: 1) freedom of informing; 2) equal preconditions for exercising the right; 3) straightforwardness and accessibility to public scrutiny; 4) promptness of the procedure. Article 3 Publishing the information filed with government agencies shall be in the public interest. Article 4 Particular notions in this Law shall have the following meaning: 1) the right of access to information shall encompass the right to ask for, receive, use and disseminate the information filed with government agencies; 2) information shall be any document in written, printed, video, audio, electronic or other form, including also a copy or a part thereof, regardless of its contents and source (or author) or the time of its composing or the system of its classifying; 3) government agency shall be any: state authority (legislative, executive or judicial); local self-government authority; local government authority; public institution; public company or other business entity that has been granted to perform public powers, which is founded by the State or a local self-government authority or which is funded from public revenues and with which the information are filed; 4) the information filed with government agencies shall represent physical possession of information by government agencies (their own ones, as well as those reported by other government agencies or third persons); 5) applicant shall be any person that requires access to the information;