Abstract
The Act on Access to Public Information of September 6, 2001, which provides for the
refusal of access to public information on the grounds of the entrepreneur’s secret, does not
regulate the entrepreneur’s status in the proceedings on a request for such information. An
entrepreneur’s participation in these proceedings as a party is excluded. There is no obligation
to inform an entrepreneur that his data are the subject of the request for access to public
information and there is no obligation to obtain his position on whether these data are the
subject of the entrepreneur’s secret. It is detrimental to the protection of the entrepreneur’s
secret, having regard to the difficulties faced by entities obliged to provide public information
in assessing the existence of premises to cover by the entrepreneur’s secret confidential data
which were not created by them. Incorrect determinations in this regard lead to irreversible
consequences consisting in the disclosure of an entrepreneur’s information. An entrepreneur is
deprived of any real control over the protection of his confidential data in the current situation.
This confirms the importance of the issue of an entrepreneur’s status in the procedure for
access to public information in order to ensure the protection of the entrepreneur’s secret
contained therein. It is reasonable to consider legislative amendments to take into account the
participation of an entrepreneur in the procedure for access to public information with the
determination of its possible form. The solutions adopted in German law could be a point of
reference for such amendments.