Posts Tagged ‘enforcement’

  • 6 November 2014

    Tanzanian Parliament Orders Arrest of 2 Company Officials

    Two top officials at Tanzania’s state-owned oil agency were arrested Nov. 3 on charges of failing to give parliament the oil and gas contracts the government signed with foreign and local investors, according to an article by Kizoto Makoye for the Thompson Reuters Foundation. The Parliamentary Committee on Public Accounts instructed police to arrest James […]

  • 5 March 2012

    Research Questions Obama Administration FOIA Policy

    Research by The FOIA Project questions whether an early Obama administration policy shift has made any difference in the handling of freedom of information cases. In March 2009 the new administration issued a directive which set forth new “defensive standards” memo that reversed a Bush administration interpretation. Under the new standard, the Department of Justice […]

  • 17 July 2009

    Safeguarding the Right to Information: Report of the People’s RTI Assessment 2008 in India

    A Comprehensive Look at the Implementation and Use of India’s RTI Act New Delhi, India — In the first two years of access-to-information implementation in India, about 1.6 million requests for information were made in urban areas, while an additional 400,000 applications were made in the rural villages. Taking such a large-scale access-to-information regime head on, […]

  • 14 April 2009

    World Bank Releases Extremely Useful Reports on Access to Information Implementation

    Over the past few months, the World Bank has recently published a series of extremely useful reports by experts on access to information laws. Using comparative case studies, together these reports provide an overview of the whole life cycle of access to information (ATI) legislation, from adoption to implementation and enforcement. One report examines the role of civil society groups in the formulation and adoption of access to information laws in Bulgaria, India, Mexico, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Another examines the institutional and logistical nuts-and-bolts of implementation, using Mexico as a case study, while the third report looks at models of enforcement in several countries: South Africa, Mexico, Scotland, India, and Hungary.

  • 27 March 2009

    Chileans Prepare for New FOI Law: An Interview with Juan Pablo Olmedo

    By Peter Kornbluh Special thanks to Marianna Enamoneta, Emilene Martinez-Morales, Carly Ackerman, Joshua Frens-String and Yessica Esquivel Alonso On April 20th, Chile will become the most recent country to have a functioning Freedom of Information Act—and potentially establish a leading model for new access to information laws around the world. The new “Law of Transparency […]

  • 5 August 2008

    President Carter Disseminates Atlanta Declaration to Advance Right to Information Worldwide

    Last month, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter forwarded the Atlanta Declaration and Plan of Action for the Advancement of the Right to Information to all heads of state and leaders of the major international organizations and financial institutions. President Carter urged these leaders to ensure the right of access to information and its implementation and […]

  • 17 July 2008

    PAKISTAN: Access to Information Advocates Criticize Proposed Freedom of Information Bill

    The Consumer Rights Commission of Pakistan (CRCP) this week held a consultation on the draft Freedom of Information Bill of 2008, which is likely to soon be tabled for consideration by the legislature. The CRCP, which has been working for to strengthen the freedom of information (FOI) framework in Pakistan since 1998, expressed reservations about […]

  • 9 May 2007

    China Adopts First Nationwide Open Government Information Regulations

    By Jamie P. Horsley The Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information (OGI Regulations) published on April 24, 2007, and effective one year later on May 1, 2008, mark a turning point away from the deeply ingrained culture of government secrecy toward making Chinese government operations and information more transparent. (Note […]

  • 17 March 2006

    Jamaican lawmakers debate sanctions for non-compliance with Access to Information Act

    During a hearing of the joint select committee of Parliament reviewing the success of the Access to Information (ATI) Act, Senator Trevor Monroe called attention to what he saw as a gap in the act: “we ought to plug the gap and apply exemplary sanctions to any authority that refuses to abide by this law […]

  • 6 October 2005

    IMF Modifies Disclosure Policy to Address Deletions, Delay

    The International Monetary Fund has taken steps that may reduce the number of deletions made in the publicly disclosed versions of its key reports about member countries, including the significant Article IV reports. The moves come after an internal report found that more than one-third of the published reports “incorporate substantive changes” as a result […]

  • 18 August 2005

    German Federal Data Protection Commissioner to become Freedom of Information Commissioner

    Under the new German Freedom of Information Law, which will enter into force on January 1, 2006, the current Federal Data Protection Commissioner Peter Schaar will also assume the job of Federal Commissioner for Freedom of Information. Schaar has emphasized the importance of his new position to the successful implementation of the new law: Timeline: […]

  • 30 June 2004

    Beyond Democratic Rights and Electoral Reform Campaigns: Challenges Dacing Non-Party Political Movements

    by Vivek Ramkumar Download the entire report in Adobe PDF format (40 pp.) Beyond Democratic Rights and Electoral Reform Campaigns: Challenges facing Non Party Political Movements (360 KB) In India, people’s movements and grass roots campaigns have traditionally participated in the political process by articulating the needs of the poor and socially marginalized and by […]

  • 20 April 2004

    Shanghai Advances the Cause of Open Government Information in China

    While the Chinese State Council mulls over a draft of China’s first freedom of information legislation, the bustling metropolis of Shanghai, home to some 16 million people, adopted China’s first provincial-level open information legislation on January 20, 2004. The Provisions of Shanghai Municipality on Open Government Information (the Shanghai Provisions) represent the most comprehensive framework […]

  • 14 July 2003

    China’s Pioneering Foray Into Open Government: A Tale of Two Cities

    By Jamie P. Horsley Guangzhou Municipal Provisions on Open Government Information (Decree No. 8 of the Guangzhou Municipal People’s Government dated November 6, 2002) (PDF – 158 KB) China’s initial reticence in sharing information about the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic highlighted anew the culture of secrecy that has for centuries shrouded the Chinese […]

  • 17 January 2003

    The Philippines: A Liberal Information Regime Even Without an Information Law

    Yvonne T. Chua has been the training director of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) since 1995. As journalism trainer, she has trained scores of journalists in the Philippines and abroad, including Indonesia, Cambodia and Nepal. In 1999, she won the first prize in the Jaime V. Ongpin Awards for Investigative Journalism for her […]

  • 15 December 2002

    Freedom of Information Law Approved in India

    The Freedom of Information Bill 2002 By Prashant Bhushan National Campaign Committee for the People’s Right to Information Text of India’s Freedom of Information law (as passed by Lok Sabha): Word – PDF More than 5 years ago, the Shourie committee set up by the government had recommended the enactment of a legislation to effectuate […]

  • 11 October 2002

    Open Democracy Advice Centre Exposes Government for Failing to Implement 2-Year-Old Transparency Law

    At its Second Annual Open Democracy Review in Cape Town, ODAC reported that the majority of public servants have not heard of the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2000, which came into operation in March of 2001. “We found that 54% of the public bodies we contacted were unaware of the Act, 16% were […]

  • 15 July 2002

    World’s Right to Know

    By Thomas Blanton Published in Foreign Policy, July/August 2002 During the last decade, 26 countries have enacted new legislation giving their citizens access to government information. Why? Because the concept of freedom of information is evolving from a moral indictment of secrecy to a tool for market regulation, more efficient government, and economic and technological […]

  • 9 July 2002

    REPORT: In Mexico, a New Law Guarantees the Right to Know

    By Kate Doyle <kadoyle@gwu.edu>, Senior Analyst and director of the Mexico Project, National Security Archive Mexico is a country where a powerful executive branch has historically overshadowed a weak Congress, a dysfunctional judicial system and a malleable press. Its citizens are unaccustomed to demanding – and receiving – their rights. For the longest time, the […]