What’s New
-
11 April 2013
FOI Notes: Grant Competition, Jobs, Commentary, More
Grant Competition: The 40 finalists are announced in the Knight Foundation competition for projects to accelerate media innovation with “breakthrough ideas in news and information.” The competition now enters a further evaluation phase, where public input is welcome, with winners to be announced June 23. The finalists include: – ¿InfAction! is intended as a web/mobile […]
-
11 April 2013
EU to Force Disclosure of Payment by Extractive Firms
Extractive industries will be required to report payments to developing nations’ governments under an April 9 compromise between the EuropeanParliament and the EU member states. European companies will be required to disclose full information on payments of more than $130,000 (€100,000) including taxes on profits, royalties, and license fees, on a country and project basis. […]
-
11 April 2013
Group Asks Macedonian Leaders to Reject Report
“Serious shortfalls’ exist in the latest annual report about access to public information in Macedonia, according to Foundation Open Society, which has called on government leaders to reject the report. The report by the Commission for Protection of the Right to Free Access to Public Information, covering 2012, contains misinformation, the group charged in an […]
-
5 April 2013
First OGP Self-Assessments Posted; Deadline Extended
The first country self-assessment reports on progress toward fulfilling their Open Government Partnership commitments are surfacing, with more expected in the coming weeks. Posted on the OGP website now are reports from two countries: the Philippines and the United States. The United Kingdom has released its draft report, but posting of a final report will […]
-
5 April 2013
Ghana Minister Backs FOI Bill; Passage Pledged in OGP Plan
Favorable comments March 28 by Alhassan Azong, Ghana’s Minister of Public Service Reform Sector, bolstered a mood of confidence among supporters of the long-stymied freedom of information legislation The minister said the cabinet has already approved the FOI bill and that it will be passed by the end of the year, according to an article […]
-
5 April 2013
Morocco’s Proposed FOI Law Scored as Consultation Opens
The Moroccan government has begun a month-long consultation on a proposed freedom of information law (in Arabic) (in English). The period of consultation began March 26, with early commentators saying that the proposal contains too many exemptions. An article by Mohammed Jaabouk says the 13 proposed exemptions exceed those suggested in the Article 27 of […]
-
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 […]
-
5 April 2013
Scottish Commissioner Warns on Use of Vexatious Standard
Scottish Information Commissioner Rosemary Agnew on April 1 cautioned authorities against denying information requests on the grounds they are vexatious. Laying out revised standards based on recent cases, she said the vexatious provision must not be used “lightly,” according to the announcement. The main changes are: “Significant burden on the public authority” becomes one factor rather […]
-
5 April 2013
Pakistan Senate Panel Tells Ministry to Present FOI Law
The Senate Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting in Pakistan on April 5 gave the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting 15 days to table a draft of Freedom of Information law before the committee. The directive was issued during the committee meeting chaired by Kamil Ali Agha at the Parliament House, according to an Associated […]
-
5 April 2013
U.S. Plans Using Metadata to Improve FOIA Libraries
The United States Justice Department plans to develop metadata standards “that will facilitate the ability of interested persons to search for and retrieve documents across websites and disparate record keeping systems,” according to a recent announcement. The plan, included in the Department of Justice’s version 2.0 of its Open Government Plan, envisions creation of a “virtual” […]
-
5 April 2013
Panama to Grant Autonomy to New Transparency Body
The Government of Panama has announced that will propose creation of an autonomous access to information and transparency authority, according to media accounts, including a lainformacion.com report. The bill that will be sent to the National Assembly would create an independent National Authority for Transparency and Access to Information that would take over from the current Executive […]
-
5 April 2013
Uganda Access Law Faces Many Challenges, Report Says
Implementation of Uganda’s law on access to information suffers because of weaknesses in the judicial system and a culture of secrecy, among many other factors, according to a detailed World Bank report. The report was written by Anupama Dokeniya, a World Bank staff member who also wrote a recent World Bank report on the implementation […]
-
5 April 2013
FOI Notes: ICIC Meeting, Open Data, Requester Confidentiality, Corporate Secrecy, Technology
Information Commissioners: The International Conference of Information Commissioners will take place Sept. 18-20 2013 in Berlin. It will jointly be hosted by the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information and by the Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information. More information will be made available on the ICIC website. Open […]
-
29 March 2013
UK FOIA Effective, According to Report by World Bank
The United Kingdom’s freedom of information act “is relatively effective and firmly entrenched,” according to an evaluation prepared for the World Bank. The 36-page report prepared by consultant Tom McClean is one of eight case studies prepared as part of a World Bank project on the implementation of right to information laws. (See previous FreedomInfo.org […]
-
29 March 2013
Four African Leaders Say They Hope to Join OGP
President Obama March 28 met with the heads of state of four African countries – Cape Verde, Malawi, Senegal and Sierra Leone – indicating afterwards that all four hope to join the Open Government Partnership. “So what our discussion has focused on is, number one, how do we continue to build on strong democracies; how […]
-
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 […]
-
29 March 2013
Chilean Senators Propose RTI Provision for Constitution
A group of Chilean senators has proposed to add a right to information to the Chilean Constitution. The proposal was made by senators Hernan Larrain, Isabel Allende, Soledad Alvear, José Ruminot Garcia and Eugenio Tuma and was sent to the Constitution Committee for further discussion. The three-year-old access to public information law needs buttressing, the […]
-
29 March 2013
FOI Notes: IFI Transparency, U.S., Open Gov, Video
IFTI Watch: A new book, “The World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Human Rights,” by Sanae Fujita, University of Essex, UK, has been published by Elgar. A description says: The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank are two of the world’s major institutions conducting development projects. Both Banks recognize the importance of transparency, participation […]
-
29 March 2013
OAS Rejects Proposals to Limit Work of Rapporteur
The Organization of American States has rebuffed an effort by some members to limit the work of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and its special rapporteur for freedom of expression, The OAS extraordinary assembly of foreign ministers, held March 22 in Washington, D.C., adopted a resolution rejecting a series of proposals from the Bolivarian Alliance […]
-
25 March 2013
Russian Officials Pay Surprise Visit to FOI Group
Russian government officials on March 21 conducted a surprise visit to the St. Petersburg office of the Foundation for Information Freedom. Arriving at the office about noon, the four officials — an assistant district prosecutor, two police officers, and a tax inspector – stayed for an hour and a half and left a long list […]