Abstract

The commented judgment precluded the issue of public access to information about people running for a public office, unrestricted by the need to protect privacy (personal data) of those people. The Supreme Administrative Court balanced the constitutional values: the right to privacy on one hand, and the right of access to public service on equal footing as well as the right of access to public information on the other. The Court gave primacy to the latter. The thesis included in the statement of the grounds for the judgment deserves to be approved as it is confirmed by the results of the linguistic, functional and constitutional interpretation of the Access to Public Information Act. Moreover, the analyzed judgment supports transparency of public life, development of meritocracy and elimination of pathologies in public service, thus realizing the standards arising from Art. 60 and 61.1 of the Polish Constitution.