(reading version)
Based on Sections 5 and 51 of the Hessian Municipal Code (HGO) in the version published on March 7, 2005 (GVBl p. 142), last amended by the law dated December 11, 2020 (GVBl p. 915) in conjunction with § Section 81 para. 1 no. 7 of the Hessian Data Protection and Freedom of Information Act (HDSIG) of 03.05.2018 (GVBl. p. 82), last amended by the law of 12.09.2018 (GVBl. p. 570), the City Council of the City of Offenbach adopted the following statutes on 15.07.2021:
Freedom of Information Statutes of the City of Offenbach
Preamble
The City of Offenbach sees itself as a modern and open city with a citizen-friendly and transparent administration. For this reason, a freedom of information statute should also make it easier for Offenbach to gain insight into the processes of the administration.
In order to minimize the effort involved in individual applications, application processing and application decisions, the city publishes all information of general interest on its website, provided that this does not conflict with rights or the protection of personal data and public and private interests. This applies to
a) statutes and ordinances of the city,
b) the rules of procedure of the City Council,
c) administrative regulations of the city,
d) service instructions for the city administration,
e) the city's file plan,
f) statistics of the city
g) invitations to meetings of the City Council and its committees together with the agenda,
h) Minutes of public meetings of the City Council and its committees,
i) meeting documents for public meetings of the City Council and its committees,
j) resolutions passed at public meetings,
k) notifications of subsidies and grants from the City,
l) audit reports,
m) budgets of the city,
n) staffing plans of the city,
o) budget plans of the city,
p) investment reports of the city in companies under private law,
q) function-related organizational and business allocation plans of the city,
r) activity reports of representatives of the city,
s) expert opinions obtained by the city,
t) urban land-use plans and landscape plans,
u) contracts concluded by the city.
With this in mind and to further strengthen transparency, the City of Offenbach issues the following statutes.
§ 1
Purpose and scope of application
(1) The statutes regulate the access of residents of the City of Offenbach and legal entities based in the City of Offenbach to official information held by the City.
(2) The conditions under which information can be made accessible in accordance with para. 1 and the procedural regulations to be observed are determined by Part Four (§§ 80 to 89) of the HDSIG, as amended, which is expressly and accordingly declared applicable by these statutes.
(3) The right to access to information established by these statutes exclusively covers official information in matters within the City of Offenbach's own sphere of influence.
§ 2
Commercial use
The commercial use of the information published in accordance with the requests from the statutes may only take place with the consent of the city. Express reference is made to the provisions of the Copyright and Related Rights Act (UrhG).
§ 3
Costs
(1) The provision of oral and simple written information and the inspection of files and records on site are free of charge.
(2) For all other official acts based on these statutes, costs (fees and expenses) are generally charged in accordance with the Hessian Administrative Costs Act (HVwKostG) in the version dated 12.01.2004 (GVBl I p. 36) and the General Administrative Costs Regulations (AllgVwKostO) of the State of Hesse dated 11.12.2009 (GVBl. I p. 763) in the respective valid version, of which the applicant is informed in advance. Of Section 9 of the Hessian Administrative Costs Act, only para. 1 sentence 1 no. 6 applies, with the proviso that expenses for copies, transcripts and copies may not exceed EUR 0.20 per page, and para. 5. The fees are to be calculated in such a way, also taking into account the administrative costs, that the applicant is not deterred from asserting their right to information in accordance with Section 80 para. 1 HDSIG.
(3) The person who initiates the official act or other administrative activity of the city or for whose benefit it is carried out is obliged to pay the costs. Several cost debtors are liable as joint debtors.
(4) The creditor of the costs is the City.
(5) If an application is necessary, the cost debt shall arise upon receipt by the municipality, otherwise upon completion of the official act subject to a fee. The obligation to reimburse expenses arises with the expenditure of the amount to be reimbursed.
(6) The costs shall become due upon notification of the cost decision, which may also be made verbally, unless the City specifies a later date. The costs shall be determined ex officio.
(7) The City may reduce the fee or refrain from charging it if this appears necessary in view of the financial circumstances of the party liable to pay the fee or otherwise for reasons of fairness.
§ 4
Entry into force
These Articles of Association shall enter into force on the day following their publication.
Offenbach, the 07.10.2021
Dr. Felix Schwenke
Lord Mayor
