Mathias Huter is a transparency activist with Forum Informationsfreiheit (FOI), a civil rights NGO advocating for more government transparency in Austria. FOI has been advocating to abolish the statutory secrecy provision (“Amtsgeheimnis”) and to replace it with a Freedom of Information Act. Draft laws that would implement those steps are currently in Parliament. However, they contain key provisions that are not in line with international best practice.
 
Huter has been involved in transparency projects in Ukraine and Timor-Leste. In Tbilisi, he worked for the anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International Georgia from 2009 to 2014. There, he experienced the high level of openness that many democracies have adopted, and realized that Austria really needs to catch up.