The British dependency of Guernsey has approved an agreed to an access to information code.
According to a BBC report, “The code falls short of a Freedom of Information Act like the one in place in the UK and being introduced in the Isle of Man and Jersey.”
The new code includes 15 exemptions, a recording system for requests, and appeal rights. The “Code of Practice on Access to Public Information & Policy on the Use of Confidentiality in Contracts and Agreements,” is to be implemented by March 31, 2014.
The Guernsey Policy Council rejected calls for an independent panel to oversee the new law, according to media account.
Chief Minister Peter Harwood said the code is the starting point on which a ‘culture of openness’ would be built. “The Policy Council remains of the view the current proposals are a proportionate and constructive first stage in this process,” he wrote in a letter on the issue.
The BBC comment on the Isle of Man appears to contradict its own reporting July 9 that a bill is still in the works there and will be offered by the end of the year. Also, more recently, a top minister voiced concerned about the cost of a FOI law, according to an article in Isle of Man Today. Jersey approved a law in 2011, but put off its effective date until the end of 2015. (See previous FreedomInfo.org report.)
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