Posts Tagged ‘rti litigation’
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7 October 2014
Slovenian Court Invalidates Part of Transparency Law
The Constitutional Court of Slovenia has suspended part of a recently passed law mandating that state-owned banks release data on all bad loans on their books. The court did not suspend a requirement that banks publish information about bad loans transferred to the so-called Bad Bank, the new public sector Bank Asset Management Company (BAMC) […]
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1 October 2014
Indian Court Reverses Ruling on Requester Justifications
The Madras High Court in India has reversed its ruling that justifications must be supplied for requests, saying that it had overlooked a contrary provision in the law. The Sept. 23 reversal deleted two paragraphs from its Sept. 17 ruling. (See previous Freedominfo.org report.) The court said: 2. In the said […]
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25 September 2014
Indian Court in Madras Says Requests Must By Justified
The Madras High Court in India has ruled that applicants must give reasons for seeking information under the right to information act. The judgment was delivered by Justices N Paul Vasanthakumar and K Ravichandrababu while hearing a challenge to the Central Information Commission direction to the High Court to provide certain information, according to news articles […]
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20 August 2014
The CIA Resisting Disclosure About Policy Change
By Nate Jones The author is a staff member at the National Security Archive, the parent organization of FreedomInfo.org, and writes the blog Unredacted where this article appeared Aug. 19 under the title “The CIA Misapplies FOIA Exemptions to Continue its Covert Attack on Mandatory Declassification Review. And Why it Matters.” On Friday September 23, […]
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14 August 2014
Indian CIC Backs Disclosure of Whistleblower Complaints
India’s Central Information Commission (CIC) has supported the release of information about whistleblowers’ allegations, The decision came in a case in which Venkatesh Nayak of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative asked the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) for details of complaints against government servants received under the Public Interest Disclosure and Protection of Informers (PIDPI) Resolution, also […]
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14 August 2014
Court Finds No Need? to Clarify Scope of Request
By Harry Hammitt The author is the publisher of Access Reports, a biweekly newsletter on US and Canadian FOI developments. While disposing of most issues left outstanding in a series of lawsuits brought by University of Virginia graduate student Katelyn Sack, Judge Emmet Sullivan has inadvertently exposed the difficulty in making FOIA amendments designed to […]
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4 August 2014
UK Ruling Supports Choice Regarding Form of Disclosure
A British Court of Appeal has ruled that a requester should be given a reply in a requested, useable Excel software and not in a pdf format, that can’t be manipulated. The Buckinghamshire County Council had resisted giving information about the 11+ school entry “in Excel format” to requester Nick Innes. It provided 184 pages […]
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31 July 2014
El Salvadoran Court Tells Assembly to Reveal Spending
The Constitutional Court of the Supreme Court of Justice in El Salvador has ordered the release of information about spending by legislators. The court unanimously instructed the Board of Directors from the National Assembly to release information about gifts, alcoholic beverages and works of art purchased in 2012 and the source of funds for the […]
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24 July 2014
The In ‘t Veld Ruling: Raising the Bar for Denying Access to EU Documents
By Helen Darbishire and Pamela Bartlett Quintanilla The authors — Darbishire, Executive Director, and Quintanilla, Researcher and Campaigner, at Access Info Europe — analyze the wider consequences of the recent European Court of Justice ruling (See previous FreedomInfo.org report). The July 3, 2014, pro-transparency ruling by the European Court of Justice in the legal battle for access to negotiations […]
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23 July 2014
The Next Step for Nigerian FOIA: Compliance/Enforcement Stupid!*
By Oluwasegun Obebe The Records, Information & Privacy Officer with the Department of Corrections, Washington, D.C., Obebe previously wrote an article for FreedomInfo.org about the Nigerian FOI law in August 2013. Obebe argues against automatic application of the federal law to the states. FreedomInfo.org has written about a trend toward such application in the courts […]
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18 July 2014
Connecticut Court Wrongly Reduces Access to Information
By James H. Smith This article was first run July 15 in the Journal Inquirer and other Connecticut newspapers. Smith, a retired newspaper editor, is president of the Connecticut Council on Freedom of Information. For more not the ruling see article in The Day. Why would seven judges decide that the police can keep information about crime […]
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3 July 2014
European Court Supports Disclosure of Document
The European Court of Justice has endorsed disclosure of a document concerning European Union negotiations with the United States on the handling of citizens’ banking information. The court backed a July 2009 request by a Dutch Member of the European Parliament, Sophie in ‘t Veld, for access to a legal opinion prepared during negotiations that […]
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27 June 2014
Nigerian Courts Upholding FOIA Application in States
The federal freedom of information should apply to the states, according to public interest group, citing a growing number of court decisions supporting that position and objected to a contrary interpretation by an official in the Lagos state government. The Civil Society Network Against Corruption (CSNAC) made the argument in a letter to the Lagos […]
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20 June 2014
Indian CIC Extends RTI to Cover Private Schools
India’s Central Information Commission has ruled that the Right to Information Act applies to private schools. The CIC decided that RTI coverage is justified when private schools are governed by laws such as the Delhi Education Act that regulate the schools, including their salaries. The requester was a former school employee. The short decision, Ms. Sadhana Dixit Vs. Directorate […]
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30 May 2014
Mexican Court Orders Release of Documents on Massacre Investigations
By Michael Evans and Jesse Franzblau Evans and Franzblau work at the National Security Archive. This report first appeared May 29 in Migration Declassified. Can the Mexican government continue to hide evidence from the public about grave human rights atrocities? A pair of access to information cases now moving through the Mexican justice system may put […]
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23 May 2014
UK Agrees to Provide Document on EU Discussions
Reversing course, the United Kingdom’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has agreed to provide Access Info Europe with information on negotiations in Brussels to revise the European Union’s transparency rules. The changed position will end a four-year legal process arising from an information request made June 15, 2010, by Access Info Europe Campaigner Pam Bartlett […]
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23 May 2014
EU Right to Be Forgotten Ruling Sets Wheels in Motion
The implications of the European Court of Justice ruling on the “right to be forgotten” are being widely discussed, with much uncertain about its practical ramifications, including for accurate public information. In early June, EU data protection authorities are expected to convene to discuss adopting a consistent approach across Europe. Google has been in contact […]
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9 May 2014
New York Court OKs Release of Pensioners’ Names
A New York state court has ruled that the names of retired public workers in public pension systems are releasable under the state’s freedom of information law. The Court of Appeals May 6 decided that disclosure of names is not an invasion of privacy, but that their addresses shouldn’t be made public. The state retirement […]
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2 May 2014
Canadian Supreme Court Backs Ontario Commissioner
The Supreme Court of Canada April 24 upheld an 2009 order by Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian instructing the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services to disclose statistical information on the first three characters of Ontario postal codes (FSAs) and the number of registered sex offenders living in each FSA. The unanimous […]
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29 April 2014
Access Bill in Paraguay to Face Test in House Debate
Civil society groups in Paraguay are pushing to amend a proposed access to information bill that they say is too restrictive and some in Congress argue is totally unnecessary. The House is expected to debate the legislation on May 13, according to a media report (in Spanish) and FreedomInfo.org sources. The Senate adopted an access […]