THE BURDEN OF DEMONSTRATING THE SUBMISSION OF A REQUEST FOR ACCESS TO PUBLIC INFORMATION BY ELECTRONIC MEANS. A PARTIALLY CRICITAL GLOSS TO THE JUDGMENT OF THE VOIVODSHIP ADMINISTRATIVE COURT IN GDAŃSK OF 23 MARCH 2022, II SAB/GD 136/21

The gloss is devoted to the problem of the burden of demonstrating the submission of a request for access to public information by e-mail to the address of the entity obliged to provide it. The Provincial Administrative Court in Gdańsk aptly assumed that in a situation where an entity obliged to provide access to public information claims that it has not received a request, the burden of proving its submission lies with the applicant. In such a situation, it is crucial to establish whether this request was sent at all by electronic means and, if so, the requester should be able to prove it. It is only by submitting evidence of the circumstance referred to above that the burden of proving the non-delivery of a request for access to public information can be shifted to the obliged entity. However, the work criticized the Court’s request for the applicant to submit documents obtained from the hosting service operator confirming the effective delivery of the request for public information to the server of the addressee of the request. It was therefore concluded that providing an e-mail printout indicating primarily the e-mail address of the public administration body used by the applicant should be considered fully sufficient, as it makes it possible to assume that the applicant’s message was delivered to the entity obliged to provide public information. At the same time, this type of evidence provides the basis for shifting the burden of proof to the obligated entity.