A proposal to create an independent national body on access to information is being debated in Peru.
A working group appointed by the ministry of Justice made the proposal (text in Spanish) for an executive decree to create the new institution, but it ran into opposition internally from an office in the Prime Minister’s office, the Secretariat of Public Management, according to a media report in La República.
Rallying to the support an independent body were nongovernmental organizations including Transparency International and the Peruvian Press Council. They held a press conference to urge the government to accept the Ministry of Justice proposalwithout changes.
The proposed autonomous entity would have its own budget and steering committee. It would oversee all public entities in order to guarantee the transparency and access to public information, with the capacity to classify, reclassify or declassify information. It would also oversee the handling of public information and personal data. It could sanction violators of the FOI law and data protection law.
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