Posts Tagged ‘implementation’
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28 February 2011
Access to Information Poor in Cyprus, Research Finds
Only one out of four requests for information from public bodies in Cyprus even got a response, according to a comprehensive report that calls for major reforms. The Open Cyprus Project asked for information from 20 public bodies in Cyprus, submitting 393 information requests. They were met with “administrative silence” in the Republic of Cyprus […]
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18 February 2011
Bangladesh Commission Holds First Hearings on Cases
The Bangladesh Information Commission Feb. 15 held its first hearings on cases, one of many signs of activity under the 2009 law. The Information Commission completed hearings on five cases under the chairmanship of Chief Information Commissioner Muhammed Zamir. Promotion efforts are under way. In January, Grameenphone signed a memorandum of understanding with the Information […]
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31 December 2010
Critics Score Proposed New Rules for Indian RTI Act
Critics are weighing in against proposed amendments to the rules for the Information Right to Information Act that among other things would set a 250 word limit for each request and to raise fees. These and other proposals have draw fire from many RTI activists and recently from the Working Group on Transparency, Accountability and […]
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31 December 2010
Researcher Identifies Concerns With New Indonesian Law
A variety of concerns about the new Indonesian freedom of information law have been identified by Andrew Thornley, a specialist on democracy and governance with the Research Triangle Institute who has been researching the Indonesian experience. “… [W]orries center on the fact that while this may well be one of many sound laws and policies?, […]
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17 December 2010
Bulgarian Court Orders Release of Minutes of Meeting
A Bulgarian court Nov. 11 compelled the release of minutes of a meeting between President Georgi Parvanov and former Russian President Vladimir Putin held in January 2008. The complaint was brought by the journalist Lachezar Lisicov with the help of Access to Information Programme (AIP). “The minutes were of a huge public interest as crucial […]
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17 December 2010
Closed Meeting on FOI Sparks Caymanian Controversy
Cayman Island legislators have retaliated against a newspaper that drew attention to plans for a closed door meeting on freedom of Information and wrote an editorial cautioning against weakening the law. The Caymanian Compass and publisher Brian Uzzell is refusing to apologise for the article by reporter Brent Fuller, or the editorial published Dec. 8. […]
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3 December 2010
Singh Examines History, Future of Indian R2K Law
The genesis of the Indian right to know law is explored and directions for the future are elucidated in a detailed paper by Shekhar Singh, a founding member of the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information. His insider view covers the birth of the movement in the 1990s and follows the course of the […]
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19 November 2010
Indonesian Commission Opens Access to Documents
The Indonesian Central Information Commission (KIP) Nov. 15 granted access to materials on education that had been requested by an anti-corruption activist. The order was hailed as historic by the requester, Febri Hendri, senior researcher with Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), according to a report written by Bagus BT Saragih in The Jakarta Post. “This will […]
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17 November 2010
Mexican Access Institute Wins Budget Battle
Open government advocates have something to celebrate in Mexico this week, as the legislature approved a budget over the weekend of Nov. 13-14 that avoids the severe cutbacks that threatened the independent federal institute that implements Mexico’s widely-praised access-to-information law. The institute, known by its initials IFAI (Instituto Federal de Acceso a la Información), faced a cutback of […]
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5 November 2010
Carter Center to Assess FOI Implementation Efforts
Out of concern that many countries fail to fully and effectively implement their freedom of information laws, the Carter Center has announced an Implementation Assessment Tool (IAT). The Atlanta-based organization founded by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said that “at present there is no objective means of analyzing and addressing this critical problem.” The tool […]
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5 November 2010
Request Problems in Pakistan Documented in Article
Several examples of the difficulties of accessing information in Pakistan were discussed in a recent article by Zahid Abdullah, who works for Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives. The Pakistan law, he said, is “a very weak law in the shape of Freedom of Information Ordinance 2002 and whatever effectiveness it had was watered down […]
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1 October 2010
Proposed Budget Cuts Imperil FOI Law in Mexico
Budget cuts proposed by the Mexican president would degrade the activities of the Federal Access to Information Institute (IFAI), according to comments made as supporters of the Mexican access to information law conducted dozens of workshops and other activities this week. News about developments in Mexico is available on the Mexico Informate website. The president’s […]
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29 September 2010
Ombudsman Urges More Transparency by EU
European Ombudsman P. Nikiforos Diamandouros “called on the EU administration to be as transparent and citizen-friendly as possible,” according to a press release about his Sept. 28 speech in Brussels. “Only if European citizens feel that the EU administration is transparent, accessible and accountable, will they develop the necessary trust and willingness actively to participate […]
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29 September 2010
UK Official Praises FOI Law; Study Calls It Oversold
United Kingdom Information Commissioner Christopher Graham marked International Right to Know Day with by praising the benefits of the UK law, but a new study says that all of the law’s promised virtues are not yet apparent. Graham said the law has “paid for itself many times over in the beneficial impact it has had […]
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13 August 2010
Uruguay Issues Regulations on Public Information Law
The Uruguay government has published a decree regulating the use of the Law on Access to Public Information (Law 18.381), according to newspaper stories and a report by the Knight Center. The Archives and Access to Public Information Center launched a campaign, “Make Your Own Request.” The Knight Center wrote: According to the decree, whenever public […]
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19 March 2010
Hong Kong’s Code on Access to Information Turns 15 Years Old: Can the Right to Know Thrive Without a Law?
By Chan Pui-king Since March 1995, the right to know in Hong Kong has been codified in the Code on Access to Information, an administrative measure (without the force of law) that requires all government departments to release information to the public. As the Code celebrates its 15th year in effect, Hong Kong’s experience with use […]
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19 March 2010
U.S. Open Government Policy: An Experiment in Transparency, Participation and Collaboration
By Meredith Fuchs On January 20, 2009, President Barack Obama pledged in his inaugural address, “[we will] do our business in the light of day.” The next day, President Obama began the first full day of his presidency with the issuance of two presidential memoranda and an executive order designed to start the process of […]
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16 March 2010
New IMF Disclosure Policy Goes Into Effect
The International Monetary Fund’s slightly revised disclosure policy enters into effect March 17, with the hope that a few more governments will allow the public release of key Bank documents about their countries, but still with a proviso giving governments veto power. Although the new policy is not expected to allow significantly greater access to […]
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5 February 2010
Avanza Transparencia en México… pero al revés
Por Emilene Martínez Morales (emilene@mexicoinformate.org) http://www.twitter.com/mxinformate En lo que va del año el Gobierno Federal, a través de la Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) y la Secretaría de Gobernación (Segob), ha manifestado un claro interés en debilitar al Instituto Federal de Acceso a la Información Pública (IFAI) al proponer que se le den facultades […]
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5 February 2010
Transparency Advances in Mexico. . . in Reverse
By Emilene Martínez Morales (emilene@mexicoinformate.org) Translated by Jesse Franzblau (Disponible en español) http://www.twitter.com/mxinformate Since the start of the year, President Felipe Calderón through actions undertaken by the Attorney General’s Office (Procuraduría General de la República – PGR) and the Secretariat of Interior (Secretaría de Gobernación – Segob), has shown a clear interest in weakening Mexico’s federal transparency […]