| Summary: | <p>The present paper discusses the main challenges encountered in the process of accessing public interest information in Romania. The case study is part of a more comprehensive research of the PhD thesis that analyses the criteria and the associated scores used by the local authorities to prioritize the allocation of social housing. Keeping axiological neutrality, the study is more of an exercise made from the perspective of a potential beneficiary of social housing for which access to such public interest information makes the difference between having a home and staying on the streets. For this reason, the paper presents the identification of <em>ex officio </em>information and the written request for public interest information experiences from a critical perspective and focuses rather on the process, human interaction and the capacity of the Romanian administrative system to be open, especially in relation with people belonging to vulnerable groups. The analysis has shown that access to public interest information in Romania remains far from being an instrument of public participation, especially if we are to relate to vulnerable groups. Both the online identification process and the written request for this information are complex procedures that require ‘digging’ skills on poorly organized local government websites, endless discussions about who should answer, and whether it should answer and resistance to stress factors caused by sometimes hostile reactions of civil servants in Romania. From an administrative perspective, the mechanism for requesting data of public interest under Law no. 544/2001 is relatively functional. With determination, after more than one year, 82% of Romanian urban localities responded to the request for public interest information. The case study, although referring to a single theme, is exhaustive, includes a significant number of local public authorities (all mayoralties) and brings new information about the organization and availability of public interest information in the online environment, and how the request for data of public interest functions and how the legal provisions are interpreted and implemented by civil servants.</p>
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