ANAC to the PA: the documents are indexed

As foreseen in the text of Legislative Decree 33 of 2013, Public Administrations cannot use any filter to prevent the published documents, information and data from being indexed on search engines. An indication whose ultimate goal is clearly to simplify access by citizens or those who need it, which unfortunately, after years of years still does not seem to have been implemented and applied as a recent ANAC intervention on the issue of Administrative Transparency.

In carrying out its institutional functions, the authority noted the practice of some administrations aimed at preventing Web search engines from indexing the pages of the "Transparent Administration" section.

Administrative transparency: ANAC's appeal to PAs

The principle of re-usability of the data provides that they are made available in an open and freely available format, except for those cases in which a different treatment is envisaged as the information is of a personal nature.

Francesco Merloni, President of the National Anti-Corruption Authority one, therefore asked the OIVs (Independent Evaluation Bodies) with a resolution signed on 30 June for a general attestation regarding the absence of filters or other technical solutions aimed at preventing search engines from indexing documents: it must be published no later than July 31 in the "Transparent Administration" or "Transparent Company" sections. In a nutshell, administrations will not bea> able to deindex documents, which must not only be online, but must also be visible to any crawler interested in engulfing their data to make them available to citizens.

to ANAC is an appeal to apply guidelines and good practices provided by law to ensure that the work of the PA is completely transparent in the eyes of the citizens, to the benefit of the community. After years in which the question has been delegated to the single reality of the public in the area, some unable to adapt their modus operandi as planned, now the authorities calls into question the OIV (or structures with similar functions) in order for the situation to change.

Source: ANAC