Law, technology, and administration in italy and estonia. A comparative analysis of the right to information

Abstract

The paper analyses the right to information’s legislative framework in Italy and Estonia, which is the most digitalised European state. The article aims to highlight to what extent the right to information that allows citizens to know and obtain data stored by public administrations represents a fundamental instrument to implement public administration’s digital processes. The controvertible nature of the right to information, in addition to the different academic interpretations about its character, reflects its uncertain placement within the legal order. In some states, like Estonia, the right to information is established at constitutional level, whereas in others, like Italy, at legislative level. In Estonia, the aim of the right to information is to allow the re-use and the exchange of public information, while in Italy the right to information aims to enhance the level of transparency of the public administration. This paper will explain that the results of this comparison between the Italian and Estonian right to information’s legal framework highlight some peculiar features which influence the relationship between law, technology and administration and, consequentially, their current levels of digitalization.