Posts Tagged ‘ifi disclosure policy’
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9 April 2015
Oxfam Report Faults World Bank Transparency
The new report by the British-based group Oxfam and others has identified transparency gaps in the operations of the World Bank’s private sector lending arm. In particular the report examines lending done through “financial intermediaries” and reports that disclosure has been lacking. The report concluded: Another worrying discovery is that of the 49 investments the IFC made […]
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12 March 2015
EIB Transparency Policy Called Watered Down
A new transparency policy by the European Investment Bank is “watered down,” according to public interest groups who followed its development. The EIB announced its “more user-friendly”new policy on March 10. Those following the process were pleased that some “dangerous provisions” had been dropped, but overall called it worse than the previous policy. A statement by nongovernmental […]
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12 March 2015
FOI Notes: Open Data, World Bank, FOI Research, Mexico, US, India, Construction Transparency
United States: The FOIA Project is conducting a poll on the “worst FOIA failure,” with six candidates. Awlaki Memo FBI Drones Snowden Damage Secret Surveillance Bay of Pigs History Kennedy FBI File Open Data/FOI: Reflections by Lauranellen McCann urges attention to the civic role of technology, not just the proliferation of tools. Looking back at […]
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12 February 2015
World Bank Denies Access to Procurement Review Reports
By Toby McIntosh The World Bank, despite being a major supporter of “open contracting,” restricts access to its own reports on “post-procurement reviews.” Most recently, the Bank refused to disclose a report concerning the procurement process for a controversial project in Serbia. Investigative journalists in Serbia have raised questions about the qualifications of the contractor […]
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20 November 2014
Secrecy Option Proposed for Bank Forest Carbon Fund
The World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Fund is aiming to allow confidential treatment for the terms under which countries would receive payments for conserving forests. The policy is still under development, but three nongovernmental organizations recently objected to giving countries the option of secrecy in the still developing system in which the Fund will pay […]
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30 October 2014
UN Rapporteur Kiai Blasts Multilateral Organizations
United Nations human rights Special Rapporteur Maina Kiai on Oct. 28 issued a report calling on multilateral organizations to be more transparent and inclusive. “The Special Rapporteur observes with concern how at the multilateral level the space and autonomy given to associations and people to exercise their fundamental rights is in far too many instances […]
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22 September 2014
EIB Disclosure Policy Needs Reform, 17 Groups State
Seventeen civil society organizations have called on the European Investment Bank to make major improvements to its disclosure policy. The policy, a slightly revised draft of which is now under review, “does not adequately reflect key international standards and principles relating to transparency,” according to a 24-page statement issued Sept. 22. The policy is likely […]
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28 August 2014
EIB Rejects Internal Advice, Declines to Release Report
The European Investment Bank has rejected a request from Christian Aid to publish a report on its investigation into tax evasion allegations against Mopani Copper Mines. The Bank’s Complaints Mechanism recommended that the report should be published in redacted form, but the Bank rejected that advice. The EIB investigated whether Mopani Copper Mines (a Glencore […]
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8 August 2014
World Bank Publishes Information on Contracts
By Toby McIntosh For the first time, the World Bank has published information on large contracts it makes for goods and services, mainly consulting services. The datasets put on the Bank’s website Aug. 8 arrived 10 months later than planned and temporarily contain less data than promised. The disclosures reveal Bank contracts valued at over […]
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31 July 2014
World Bank Ready to Disclose Its Contracts; 10 Months Late
Ten months behind schedule, the World Bank is about to begin the promised disclosure of information about its own contracts, Freedominfo.org has learned from a Bank official. The information – contractor name, a brief description of services and the contract amount — was to be published on the World Bank Group’s Open Finances website beginning […]
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7 July 2014
EIB Urged to Revise Transparency Policy
The European Investment Bank needs to make substantial improvements to its 2010 transparency policy, according to a recent letter by nongovernmental organizations. The NGOs, led by the group Counter Balance based in Brussels, wrote to the EIB on July 1 in advance of an EIB-sponsored stakeholder meeting July 10. “Drawing on our experience with the […]
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26 June 2014
Appeals Body Says World Bank Violated Access Policy
By Toby McIntosh The World Bank violated its access to information policy in several ways when it denied a request for information from FreedomInfo.org, according to a decision by the three outside experts who decide appeals. The Access to Information Appeals Board said the Bank must disclose the requested documents – the information requests sent […]
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6 June 2014
EIB Plans Consultation on Transparency Policy
The European Investment Bank has announced plans to hold a public consultation as part of the review of its Transparency Policy. The process is expected to be finalized at the end of 2014, according to a timetable contained in the press release. The EIB Transparency Policy was adopted in 2010 with a provision mandating a […]
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2 June 2014
World Bank Posts First Group of Access Request Digests
The World Bank has posted for the first time short summaries of some of the information requests it has received. The 32 listed requests were received in April and were recently put on the Bank’s website. Under the Bank’s new policy a summary of a request is only disclosed if the requester agrees. No names are provided […]
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16 May 2014
EBRD Slightly Modifies Public Information Policy
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development May 7 approved modest changes to its Public Information Policy. The new policy as only slightly different than the previous policy, which was criticized as too restrictive by nongovernmental organizations, and is still “antiquated,” one critic told FreedomInfo.org. David Banisar, senor legal counsel for the London-based Article 19, […]
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24 April 2014
World Bank to Summarize Request Letters; Permit Veto
The World Bank in May will begin publishing summaries of requests made in April under its access to information policy, unless a requester objects, according to Bank officials. Requesters in April saw a new message: To further transparency, the World Bank (“Bank”) intends to disclose information regarding access to information requests submitted to the Bank as […]
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4 April 2014
FreedomInfo.org Appeals World Bank Denial
FreedomInfo.org has appealed a World Bank decision not to release a month’s worth of the requests under the Access to Information policy, stressing that redaction could solve the Bank’s concern over disclosing personal information. The Bank declined to redact information that might be covered by exemptions to the AI policy, saying redaction is not mandatory under […]
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4 April 2014
Book Review: Transparency in International Law
“Transparency in International Law,” edited by Andrea Bianchi and Anne Peters. Published 2013, Cambridge University Press The 20 chapters of this book, edited by two Swiss academics, provide a sweeping survey of transparency at dozens of international organizations, in theory and practice. The editors purposefully did not prescribe a definition of “transparency,” while admitting that […]
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21 March 2014
World Bank Declines to Use Redaction Procedures
By Toby McIntosh The World Bank’s vaunted “presumption of disclosure” comes with a caveat – all or nothing. Unlike most national and international right to information regimes, the Bank appears unwilling to redact (black out) portions of a document and release the rest. The Bank’s restrictive redaction practice – seemingly at odds with its stated […]
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17 March 2014
EBRD Making No Progress on Transparency, Groups Say
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is proposing to make “no progress” on institutional transparency, according to a statement by watchdog groups. “There are very limited amendments proposed in the Public Information Policy, which has remained largely unchanged for many years,” according to the nongovernmental organizations: Accountability Counsel, Amnesty International, ARTICLE 19, CEE Bankwatch […]