What’s New
-
25 February 2016
FOI Notes: Research, Examples, OGP Elections, National News, More
FOI Conference/Call for Papers: Proposals are being invited for papers to be given at a conference, “Freedom of Information Laws on the Global Stage: Past, Present and Future,” to be held Nov. 4, 2016, at Southwestern Law School, Los Angeles, Cal. See announcement. Deadline for abstract is April 4. “Papers should have an international or […]
-
24 February 2016
World Bank Finds Low Transparency in Rulemaking
“Poorer countries have significantly less transparent and consultative rulemaking processes than richer counterparts,” according to World Bank data based on a survey of practices in 185 countries, just published on its Citizen Engagement in Rulemaking website. “Only 27% of low income economies measured give notice of proposed business regulations to the general public and publish […]
-
24 February 2016
Italian Groups Submit Petition Objecting to Decree
Italian transparency advocates critical of a proposed government decree on access to information have submitted a petition (still open) with 60,000 signatories objecting to it. Representatives of FOIA4Italy, a 30-group coalition, voiced their objections at a meeting with government officials and parliamentarians, according to a report by the group. The group outlined its 10 main concerns, […]
-
24 February 2016
Venezuela Draft Access Law Heads to National Assembly
A top official of Venezuela has announced plans to begin consideration of a Draft Organic Law of Transparency and Access to Public Information. The draft text (in Spanish) was introduced by the second vice president of the National Assembly, deputy Simon Calzadilla, who said the draft will go a joint committee composed of the Finance Committee, […]
-
24 February 2016
Three Appointments Bring Indian CIC to Full Strength
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appointed three retired civil servants to the Central Information Commission. The three have “spent decades perfecting the art of secrecy,” according to a skeptical article in The Hindustan Times by Aloke Tikku. The appointments will bring a full complement of members to the commission for the first time 2005, […]
-
24 February 2016
UN Experts Propose Access to Information Indicator
A United Nations panel has recommended that access to information be one measurement among 229 other “indicators” of national progress toward sustainable development. The recommendation represented a come-from-behind victory for access advocates. Although access to information had been included as a target (16.10) in the 2015 UN Sustainable Development Goals, it was not identified as […]
-
22 February 2016
China Promotes Open Government as it Seeks to Reinvent Its Governance Model
By Jamie P. Horsley The author is a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, on leave from the Yale Law School China Center. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author. China’s recent actions under Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping at home and abroad have prompted many observers to […]
-
22 February 2016
Does FOI Work? An Academic Review
By Ben Worthy, Peter John and Matia Vannoni The following is an excerpt from a larger paper that shows FOIA requests to be more effective than informal inquiries in small government entities in the United Kingdom. The paper: “Transparency at the Parish Pump: A Field Experiment to Measure the Effectiveness of Freedom of Information Requests,” […]
-
19 February 2016
Two OGP Members Slip Below Minimum Qualification Level
Two of the 69 member countries of the Open Government Partnership – Papua New Guinea and Tunisia — have fallen below the minimum standard for membership. The two countries have a year to improve their eligibility scores under OGP rules. This is the first time member countries have slipped below the qualification bar. Countries must […]
-
18 February 2016
Delays in Sri Lanka Worry Supporters of RTI Bill
An apparent delay in the introduction of right to information legislation in Sri Lanka is troubling for RTI supporters. The RTI Bill was supposed to have been tabled in Parliament in January 2015. (See previous Freedominfo.org report.) The Sri Lankan Cabinet on Dec. 2 approved a draft RTI bill that was expected to be introduced in […]
-
18 February 2016
FOI Notes: Nigeria, Research, Open Data, Open Contracting, Much More, Even FOI Valentines
Nigeria: In order to sensitize youths on their rights to access information from public institutions, the Lagos State chapter of the National Youth Service Corps inaugurates a new Community Development Service group — the Freedom of Information Act Club. United Kingdom: FOIA requests are more effective than informal inquiries, according to a new paper: “Transparency […]
-
17 February 2016
South Korea Not Pursuing OGP Goals, Review Finds
South Korea has fallen well short of its stated goal of releasing 10 million government documents annually, according to an analysis conducted for the Open Government Partnership. “There is little evidence that South Korea has actively participated in OGP,” begins the review by Geoffrey Cain, an independent researcher in South Korea. His detailed assessment was […]
-
17 February 2016
Civil Society Groups Score Obama on Open Government
The Obama administration has made only “limited” progress toward achieving its stated goals to improve access to information, according to a detailed assessment issued Feb. 16 by the OpenTheGovernment.org. The report developed by 23 civil society organizations analyzes the administration’s efforts toward fulfilling 16 commitments. They were made in the second US national action plan created […]
-
15 February 2016
Where is transparency in the hype cycle?
By Rupert Simons The author is the chief executive office of Publish What You Fund. This column first appeared Feb. 11, 20 2016 in the PWFP blog. Development fashions go through predictable stages. At first, breathless blog posts proclaim the idea: budget support, microfinance, laptops. Soon, governments and funders are jumping over themselves to adopt […]
-
15 February 2016
Draft Italian Access Decree Still Disappoints Supporters
An Italian right to information decree has now been released officially and appears to live up to low expectations. FOIA4Italy issued a statement lamenting weaknesses in the decree approved by the Council of Ministers, calling it very disappointing. It was not much changed from a leaked version. There are not many chances of changing it, […]
-
15 February 2016
Hungarian Lawmaker Seeks to Exempt Postal Service
A Hungarian parliamentarian from the ruling party has submitted a bill that would exempt the Hungarian Postal Service (Magyar Posta) from the provisions of the freedom of information act. Fidesz MP Szilárd Németh offered the legislation, according to a report in The Budapest Beacon. The English-language paper quotes Miklós Ligeti, Director of Legal Affairs for Transparency International Hungary, pointing […]
-
11 February 2016
Spanish Government Sues Over Disclosure Rulings
The Spanish government is appealing five instances in which the Transparency Council ordered the disclosure of information under the one-year-old transparency law. The lawsuits are described in an article by Elana G. Sevillano in El Pais and a press release by Access Info Europe. Ironically, the government is seeking to prevent the disclosure of documents […]
-
11 February 2016
EU Open Data Efforts Only Halfway There, Study says
More political will is necessary in Europe to advance access to open government data, according to a new report prepared for the European Data Portal project. The existing national data portals in EU countries are falling well short of their potential, according to detailed research by Capgemini Consulting in the report entitled “Open Data Maturity […]
-
11 February 2016
Slovakian Groups Press Reforms to Access Law
Proposals to strengthen the right to information law in Slovakia have been endorsed by 11 of the 12 political parties, but not the ruling Smer party, the SITA newswire has reported and described (in Slovak) by one of the sponsors. Ten reform proposals were made by three non-governmental organizations, the Transparency International Slovensko (TIS), the Fair-Play Alliance […]
-
11 February 2016
FOI Notes: Transparency in Rulemaking, Freedom of Expression, Open Data, Pakistan, EU, US, UK, India, Ghana, Bosnia, FIFA, Canada, Israel, Open Fisheries
Rulemaking: “In one-fourth of the economies measured, governments do not give notice of proposed regulations, publish draft texts nor engage with the general public before implementing new rules,” according to the World Bank, which has issued a dataset on rulemaking that covers 185 countries and reflects inputs from the private sector and governments. Country findings, […]