What’s New
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21 January 2016
FOI Notes: Commonwealth, Japan, Georgia, Australia, Mexico, India, Canada, US
Commentary: Alan Hudson, Executive Director of Global Integrity in a blog post writes: “Open governance matters, not because it is a good thing in itself, or because it leads directly to better development outcomes (it rarely does). Instead, open governance matters because it enhances the ability of communities, to try, learn and adapt their way […]
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21 January 2016
UK Commissioner Counsels Against Weakening FOI Act
The United Kingdom’s information commissioner testified Jan. 20 against making changes to the freedom of information act. Information Commissioner Christopher Graham appeared at the first day of hearing sponsored by special commission considering whether to amend the law, particularly to provide more protection for information exchanged by ministers and civil servants. The commission is holding two […]
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17 January 2016
How the Senate Should Fix the FOIA Reform Bill
By Aaron Mackey This article was first published Jan. 15 by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Mackey is the EFF Frank Stanton Legal Fellow. With the U.S. House of Representatives passing a bill this week to amend the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), EFF and a coalition of other groups are calling on members of the Senate […]
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17 January 2016
US FOIA Fee Survey Results
By Lauren Harper This article was first published Jan. 15 in Unredacted, a sister blog from the National Security Archive. The Unredacted version includes some additional charts. What percentage of agency FOIA costs did Congress intend agencies to recover through FOIA fees? All? Most? Half? Something else? It’s impossible to say since the Office of […]
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17 January 2016
Pakistani Minister Says New Group to Review RTI Bill
The government of Pakistan has constituted a special five-person committee to evaluate the long-pending right to information bill, according to an article in Daily Pakistan. The News reported that the group wlll “finalize draft law in a meeting on January 21 and it will then be laid before the house as a government bill.” The […]
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17 January 2016
Macri Orders Disclosures; Issues Open Data Decree
Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri has signed an Open Data Decree (117/2016) that sets a 180-day deadline for federal agencies to present open data plans. The six-month deadline began with the publication of the decree, Jan. 12 in the Official Reporter. Also, the Modernisation Ministry has ordered that in 90 days all public bodies must publish […]
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14 January 2016
FOI Notes: Research, Open Data, India, Denmark, Liberia, US, UK, Uruguay, Chile, Jersey, Pakistan, OGP, Georgia, Japan, UNDP
Research/United States: Margaret B. Kwoka of the University of Denver Law School publishes research critical of the commercial use of FOIA, drawing on original datasets from six federal agencies. The abstract says: It uses these agencies as case studies to examine the way that businesses derive profit-making value from free or low-cost federal records. Remarkably, […]
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13 January 2016
Scotland Plans to Expand FOI to Cover Prisons, Schools
The Scottish government ministers is planning to extend the scope of the freedom of information laws law to nonpublic sector bodies delivering public services, according to an announcement and media reports such as one in Holyrood. As a result, contractors such as those who run Scotland’s two private prisons would be subject to FOI requests as will certain […]
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12 January 2016
US House Approves Bill to Reform FOIA Law
The US House of Representatives Jan. 11 easily approved a bill (H.R. 653) that advocates say will improve the freedom of information act. A last-minute addition to the House bill would protect against disclosures that would “adversely affect intelligence sources and method,” but the changes largely codify existing practice, according to FOI experts, who nonetheless were […]
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7 January 2016
UN Body Yet to Endorse Universal Indicator on Access
By Toby McIntosh The prospects for the creation of an international access to information (ATI) “indicator” appear to slipping. The United Nations group charged with figuring out how to assess progress toward the achievement of the new UN Sustainable Development Goals has yet to include a measurement of the creation and implementation of ATI laws […]
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7 January 2016
Study Rates Pakistani RTI Laws, Performance
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ranked as the Pakistani province with the best overall right to information act and response performance, with a score of 73% in a study conducted by PILDAT, the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency. Punjab was second with a score of 65% and Balochistan third with a score of 29%. The 2002 […]
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7 January 2016
Moroccan Government Resends FOI Legislation
The Moroccan government on Dec. 29 sent to the legislature a draft freedom of information law (announcement in Arabic). The bill, however, is the same “fourth draft” that surfaced in June, and was found wanting by critics, who still want amendments. The draft bill now heads to committee consideration. On Dec. 29 an oral presentation […]
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7 January 2016
Jamaican Government Promises Amendments
The Jamaican government is preparing freedom of information reform legislation, says Phillip Paulwell, the leader of government business in the House of Representatives, according to an article by Daraine Luton in The Gleaner. “This is four years after Parliament voted for the amendments to take place, but clearly, greater access to information is not a […]
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7 January 2016
FOI Notes: US, UN, UK, Germany, Canada, Spain, Philippines, India, OGP, EU, Rwanda, Open Data
United States: State Department Inspector General Steve Linick issues a report highly critical of the department’s handling of FOI requests. He says the department did not follow rules requiring searching email accounts when relevant records are likely maintained in these accounts. World Press Freedom Day: A registration page is now available or the May 2-4 […]
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7 January 2016
Indonesian Officials Urge Greater Transparency
“The Central Information Commission (KIP) and President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo have called on all public institutions, local administration and state-owned companies to provide more access to their public information in order to build trust,” according to an article in The Jakarta Post. “If an openness to information becomes intrinsic to our attitude and culture, this […]