Posts Tagged ‘rti litigation’
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17 May 2013
Kenyan Court Limits Who Can Make Information Requests
The Kenyan High Court has ruled that only citizens have a constitutional right of access to government information, preventing media groups, nongovernmental organizations and others from making requests. This outcome was criticized as a “narrow interpretation” by a Kenya-based staff person of Article 19. In the same May 13 ruling, the court deemed that the […]
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3 May 2013
Thwarted Liberian Group Seeks Asset Disclosures
A Liberian group has gone to court in an effort to compel the release of the asset declarations of public officials after being frustrated by the anti-corruption commission and the information commissioner. The Center for Media Studies and Peace Building (CEMESP) on April 29 filed a writ of Mandamus with the Supreme Court to compel […]
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30 April 2013
U.S. Supreme Court Allows State to Limit Use of FOIA
The U.S. Supreme Court April 29 ruled that a state may prohibit non-state residents from using the state freedom of information law. The unanimous opinion upheld restrictions by the state of Virginia in a case, McBurney v. Young, No. 12-17, brought by a California man seeking property records for commercial clients and a Rhode Island […]
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25 April 2013
Scottish Agencies Consult Private Counsel for FOI
Scottish agencies have spent more than £400,000 ($520,000) for advice from private attorneys on how to respond to freedom of information requests, according to the New Scotsman April 21. More than 60 Scottish authorities sought counsel on how to apply the FOI exemptions and on reviews and appeals to the Scottish Information Commissioner, the newspaper’s […]
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25 April 2013
U.S. Enhances Archive of FOI Court Decisions, Summaries
The U.S. Justice Department Office of Information Policy has launched a new page containing summaries of significant court decisions on freedom of information, according to an announcement. The enhanced Court Decisions page “adds two powerful features for viewing and searching through our case summaries while continuing to allow users to view these summaries by topic […]
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17 April 2013
Indian Court Stays Major Parts of Controversial Ruling
The Indian Supreme Court on April 16 stayed a controversial decision ordering that retired or sitting judges be appointed to lead the Central Information Commission and state commissions. The order by Justices A. K. Patnaik and Arjan K. Sikri also stayed a directive from the Sept. 13, 2012, decision that would have required commissions to […]
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5 April 2013
U.S. Federal Court Undercuts Catch-22 Delay Strategy
A federal appeals court April 2 ruled against a federal agency strategy that impeded Freedom of Information Act requesters from going to court to fight delays in responding to FOIA requests. The court overturned a lower court’s 2012 decision in a case brought by the liberal watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW), against […]
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29 March 2013
Uruguay Supreme Court Supports Disclosure Request
Uruguay’s Supreme Court of Justice has unanimously dismissed a law suit brought by cable TV companies fighting the disclosure of the number of subscribers they have. The court rejected arguments that the Law on Access to Public Information is unconstitutional in a March 15 decision (in Spanish) described here (in Spanish). The Uruguayan Press Association […]
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25 March 2013
European Court Backs Confidentiality for Trade Talks
The Second Chamber of the European General Court March 19 ruled against an effort to obtain documents related to the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). The decision went mostly against complainant Sophie in ’t Veld, a member of the Liberal Party Group in the European Parliament. The court agreed with her regarding some documents, but […]
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20 March 2013
Punjab Cabinet Advances Criticized RTI Legisaltion
The Punjab cabinet on March 11 approved the Freedom of Information Act 2012. The bill expected to go to parliament for further action, after a coming election, is an improvement over a previous version. It would rate a 105 on the scale for evaluating legal frameworks by Access Info Europe and the Centre for Law and Democracy (Global Right to […]
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27 February 2013
Irish Court Says NAMA Covered by Disclosure Rule
The Irish Court Feb. 27 held that the National Assets Management Agency is a public authority subject to freedom of information requests. Environmental Information Commissioner Emily O’Reilly has issued such ruling in September 2011, but NAMA appealed, argued that it is not a “public authority.” NAMA is a government-backed financial body established to help bail […]
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22 February 2013
EU Court Considers Appeal in Case Brought by Access Info
The Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg held a hearing Feb. 21 on whether the Council of the European Union can prevent disclosing the names of EU states that supported proposals to limit EU transparency. Disclosure of the positions of different member states would undermine the EU’s “effectiveness,” according to the Council, but […]
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22 February 2013
U.S. Supreme Court Hears Case on State Discrimination
The U.S. Supreme Court seems unlikely to a overturn a prohibition by the state of Virginia against freedom of information requests by nonresidents, according to most media reports on the case. The plaintiffs argued that the restriction in state law was unconstitutional interference with interstate commerce and the Privileges and Immunities Clause. The case (McBurney v. […]
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8 February 2013
Rulings in Holland Ban Charging FOI Processing Fees
Two court rulings in Holland have said that requesters may not be charged for the cost of processing their freedom of information requests. They may be assessed the costs of making copies and mailing. “This is a landslide victory although in The Netherlands there are no, and there were never, legal grounds for charging fees,” […]
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4 February 2013
Court Tells Indian State to Pick Info Commissioners
The high court of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh has ordered the government to seek applications in order to fill the 10 vacant posts of the State Information Commission, according to articles in the Daily Pioneer and the Jagran Post. Most of the positions have been vacant since August of 2010, resulting in a […]
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1 February 2013
Indian Court Denies State Commission Right to Appeal
The Indian Supreme Court on Jan. 18 rejected as “frivolous” a petition from the Karnataka information commissioner challenging a Karnataka High Court order that overturning the commissioner’s decision, according to an article in The Deccan Herald. The order has “serious implications” for the RTI Act, wrote Shailesh Gandhi, who served as Central Information Commissioner from […]
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22 January 2013
Chilean Court Orders Disclosures by Agencies
The Supreme Court of Chile has ordered two government agencies to disclose information that was sought by the Transparency Council. The Supreme Court ordered the Securities and Insurance Superintendency (Superintendencia de Valores y Seguros) to disclose the names of the public servants who are shareholders of the businesses they regulate. In another decision, the court […]
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15 January 2013
Russian Court Ruling Aids Release of Soviet Era Secrets
By Svetlana Savranskaya Savranskaya is a staff member at the National Security Archive. Documents labeled “secret” during the Soviet era may be declassified, the Russian Constitutional Court has ruled, apparently removing a roadblock that has frustrated historians. The Russian Constitutional Court issued the clarification in response to a complaint from a prominent historian, Nikita Petrov, deputy chair […]
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10 January 2013
National Security Exemptions Stir Controversy in Colombia
By Michael Evans Evans is a staff member at the National Security Archive. In the coming days, Colombia’s Constitutional Court will decide the fate of the country’s new transparency law. The version of the Ley de Acesso (Access Law) that emerged from the legislative process last year has stirred up heated debate in Colombia, mainly […]
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10 January 2013
EU Ombudsman Blasts EC for Denying Document Access
European Ombudsman P. Nikiforos Diamandouros has blasted the European Commission for denying access to documents concerning its view of the United Kingdom’s decision to opt-out from the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. The ombudsman said the Commission “has breached the Charter of Fundamental Rights by wrongfully refusing to give public access” to the documents and […]