Posts Tagged ‘implementation’
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25 April 2014
Inter-American Rapporteur Addresses FOI in Report
Freedom of information is one of many topics addressed a 619-page report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that includes the 2013 Annual Report of the Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression. (Spanish) The report by rapporteur Catalina Botero Marino also addresses national security surveillance and violence against journalists, combining a descriptive […]
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24 April 2014
Carter Center Issues Tool to Assess FOI Implementation
The Carter Center April 23 unveiled a tool for assessing the implementation of access to information laws. The goal is to evaluate the “plumbing” that makes access laws work. The assessment tool uses 65 questions and the results are displayed with red, yellow and green ovals. The tool is not designed to rank countries or […]
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18 April 2014
Rwandan Agencies Failing to Appoint Information Officers
Barely a quarter of Rwandan public institutions have followed a mandate in the Access to Information Law to appoint information officers. An official in the Office of Ombudsman said only 28 percent of the designations have been made, according to a New Times report by Eugene Kwibuka. According to the article, a year after the […]
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15 April 2014
Study Finds Implementation of Bangladesh RTI Law Slow
The implementation of Bangladesh’s 2009 right to information law is “still very slow,” according to a comprehensive “Country Diagnostic Analysis” that contains recommendations for improvement. The study, conducted by the Management and Resources Development Initiative (MRDI), examined many facets. The findings include: – public awareness of the law (low) – the role of the media […]
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3 April 2014
African Conference Addresses FOI Implementation Issues
The following article is from the Media Rights Agenda website. A two-day Africa Regional Conference on Freedom of Information Implementation bringing together over 100 state and non-state actors from Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe, was held in Abuja, Nigeria. The conference discussed and identified some emerging positive […]
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17 March 2014
Email Retention Controversy Roils Transition in Chile
The outgoing administration of President Sebastián Piñera’s in Chile allowed government employees to delete personal emails before leaving office, later backpedaling under pressure. A controversy erupted after the newspaper El Mostrador March 10 disclosed the existence of Supreme Decree 14, signed in mid-January but not published until Feb. 27, overturned a 2004 regulation on electronic […]
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17 March 2014
UK Committee Recommends FOI Coverage of Contracting
The Public Accounts Committee of the UK Parliament on March 14 issued a report documenting the growth of contracting out public services to private contractors and calling for such activities to be covered by the freedom of information law. Half of all public spending on goods and services goes to private providers of contracted-out services, […]
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17 March 2014
Chilean CSO Request System Successful, Research Says
Requests for municipal information in Chile that were made through an automated system run by the civil society group Ciudadano Inteligente were more likely to get positive results than requests submitted through normal channels, according to research by Cristobal Marshall. Ciudadano Inteligente several years ago launched http://www.accesointeligente.org/, an online FOIA liaison platform that has aimed […]
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14 March 2014
World Bank Creating Tool to Gauge FOI Implementation
The World Bank is developing and testing a set of indicators to evaluate the implementation of right to know laws. Expected out in June, the 120-item evaluative tool will cover topics such as enforcement and management. The Bank is testing the tool using information gathered about four countries. Also nearing a debut is a project […]
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10 March 2014
Crowdfunding FOI Requests Gains in Use, Seems to Work
By Toby McIntosh The use of crowdfunding to raise money for freedom of information requests is occurring at modest levels in the Australia, Canada, Germany and the United States, according to reports gathered by FreedomInfo.org. The number of instances may be too few to be called a trend, but too intriguing to be ignored. And […]
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7 March 2014
US Advisory Body Meets on FOIA Dispute Resolution
A government advisory body in the United States is considering preliminary suggestions to improve dispute resolution for freedom of information requests. A committee of the Administrative Conference of the United States met on the topic March 6, and will continue deliberating on the recommendations, derived from a lengthy research paper on FOIA disputes. A main focus is the […]
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4 March 2014
Freedom of Information in Ireland: changing of the guard
By Tony Lowes Lowes is a Director of Friends of the Irish Environment In what is a serious blow to Freedom of Information in Ireland, the newly appointed Information Commission and Ombudsman Peter Tyndall has withdrawn his predecessor’s appeal to the Supreme Court against a High Court judgment that the constitutional right to cabinet confidentiality […]
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4 March 2014
Turkish Groups RTI Experiences, Make Plans
A focus group meeting on right to information was held Jan. 14 in Ankara, Turkey, and civil society participants summarized their goals in a report. The session was organized jointly by TACSO Turkey and STGM and brought together 16 CSO participants. The purpose of the meeting was to share their opinions and experience in relation […]
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4 March 2014
Bermuda Premier Plans Hunt for First Info Commissioner
Bermuda Premier Craig Cannonier has told parliament that the recruitment process for an information commissioner to oversee the 2010 freedom of information law will start this spring. He said further legislation on public access to information — to set fees, establish the organization and deal with maintenance of public records — would be introduced in […]
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28 February 2014
Study Rates Chinese Government Websites
The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) on Feb. 24 issued a report evaluating government agencies on information transparency. The National Railway Administration ranked last, according to the blue book report, with a score of zero out of 100, according to a Global Times article. Number on in the index was the Ministry of Education, […]
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21 February 2014
Ill wind in Canberra on the transparency front
By Peter Timmins This article appeared Feb. 20 in Timmins’ Open and Shut blog. It’s still summer, it is not completely dark and gloomy (this Freedom of Information disclosure by Defence to Sean Parnell of The Australian is one to keep hope alive) but these straws plucked from the mist are telling: Tone at the […]
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17 February 2014
Brazil Making Plans to Monitor New Law
Brazil is planning to make improvements in managing its new law on access to information, according to a Brazilian official involved in implementing the 2011 law. Brazilian officials are looking to better utilize its computerized request system according to Otavio Moreira de Castro Neves, a Brazilian official in the Office of the Comptroller General who spoke […]
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17 February 2014
FOI Notes, Sierra Leone, US, India, EU, OGP
Sierra Leone: Sierra Leone’s new RTI law is tied as 5th strongest in the world, according to an analysis by the Centre for Law and Democracy. The law scored 124 out of a possible maximum of 150 points on the RTI Rating, an analytical tool developed by CLD and its partner organisation, Access Info India: […]
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14 February 2014
ATI Used in Brazil to Get Access to Water
This report by Article 19 appears on the Article 19 website here. Freedom of expression and information are key in the battle to fight poverty and improve people’s lives. The availability and accessibility of information promotes transparency, ensures better governance and reduces inefficiency and corruption. Information gives people the opportunity to improve their own lives, participate […]
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6 February 2014
China Issues Regulations Implementing Secrecy Law
Long-awaited implementing regulations under China’s State Secrecy Law have been published. The Chinese media characterized them as a measure to boost government transparency, but critics questioned them. The regulations (in Chinese) impose conditions for classification and set deadlines for de-classifications. There appears to be no system for citizens to challenge classification decisions and withholding of information on […]