This document discusses successes and failures of freedom of information laws from a global perspective. It finds that while FOI laws have increased government accountability in some countries by up to 20 years after enactment, responsiveness to information requests has remained mixed, with less than half of requests being fully successful. An ideal FOI law has broad coverage of information, narrow exemptions subject to public interest overrides, an independent implementing agency, timely responses, low costs, and penalties for noncompliance. Mexico is highlighted as having a relatively strong FOI law due to factors like its broad public interest test and capable independent oversight agency.

1. FREEDOM OF
INFORMATION:
Successes and Failures from a Global
Perspective

2. • Democracy is a system of government
where public officials are held
accountable for their actions by
citizens.
citizens need information which they use to
scrutinize and assess their government and
thus hold public officials accountable;
freedom of information is intimately tied to
the practice of democratic citizenship,
equally as essential as elections and civil
rights.

3. • Transparency is an
element necessary for
accountability
the rationale behind the rise of FOI
movements and the wide scale enactment
of FOI laws around the world.

4. 2012 Relevant Data on FOI
 94 nations have enacted FOI legislation;
 Sub-national level, 178 FOI laws have been
enacted;
 international level, at least three treaties
have been enacted;
 at least 53 countries are "More or less close
to" adopting an FOI law

5. "The global Freedom of
Information (FOI) community
has recently begun a process of
substantial self-reflection in
order to assess whether their
initiatives are having a
measurable impact”.
Bentley and Calland Academic Paper

6. Findings and
Impact of
the Freedom of
Information
Laws

7. Accountability
 FOI laws make
governments more
accountable.
 Mungiu-Pippidi studies the
use of FOI laws as an anti-
corruption tool and finds
that there is a substantial
increase of control over
corruption up to twenty
years after the enactment
of an FOI Law.

8. Accountability Despite the presence of
other anti-corruption
measures (ratification of the
UN Convention against
Corruption, establishment of
an Anti-Corruption agency
and the Office of the
Ombudsman), only the
presence of an FOI law has a
significant effect on control
over corruption.
 there is a substantial
increase in the number of
convictions in the first 8
years of enactment.

9. Responsiveness
impact of FOI laws on responsiveness is much
more ambivalent.
a study by Open Society Justice Initiative states
while 43% of countries that had FOI laws
experienced increased responsiveness in release
of government documents, 48% of requests were
denied, with 22% of denials in the form of mute
replies- that is, no reply was received.

12. Responsiveness
Responsiveness has not increased
considerably since 2006. A study by Access
to Info Europe (2011) on success rates of
requests for budget information notes that
less than half (26%) of requests were
successful. 19% received incomplete
information and 38% received mute replies.

13. Successful
Case:
MEXICO

14. The primary strength in the
Mexican
FOI Law lies in the following:
the existence of a blanket
public interest override;
the existence of a capable,
independent implementing
body, the Federal Institute for
Access to Public Information
(IFAI).

15. Other Salient Features:
Article 16 states that none of the
laws exemptions apply to
information necessary for
"investigating grave violations of
fundamental rights or crimes
against humanity." Meaning,
requests involving such
information cannot be denied,
even if national security is
invoked.

16. Other Salient Features:
Mexico's FOI law does not require
people requesting information to
state their purpose;
has strong procedural guidelines.
If an agency is unable to respond
to a request on time, the result is
assumed to be positive and the
burden is put on the agency in
case the response is not met.

17. Other Salient Features:
Mexico FOI law is implemented by
separate implementing agency, the
IFAI. It also holds the power to
review denied requests and acts as
an ombudsman for strengthening
the 'culture of transparency' in the
government.
The IFAI is also mandated to help
the applicant.

18. Data during the first three years
of Mexico's electronic freedom of
information system:
 public officials performed at a "satisfactory"
level in 67% of the cases, 9% percent of agency
responses exceeded the expectations of the
requester, and only 24% of the responses were
demonstrably unsatisfactory;
 the IFAI's satisfaction ratings dropped when it
came to responses for more complex documents.
 the IFAI also extensively makes use of IT and the
internet in handling requests for information.

19. Contents of a
Strong FOI
Law (Ideal)

20. Presumption of Release
blanket coverage of all
government information;
all government information is
assumed to be open for access,
unless otherwise stated in the
exemptions;
essence of freedom of
information- that every citizen has
a right to access information.

21. Exemptions
the coverage of the FOI must be as
wide as possible;
The general rule is that all public
institutions must be covered;
FOI laws must be amenable to
accessing information from GOCCs
and private entities that perform
public duties.

22. Exemptions
Exemptions, if there are any, must
be clearly defined;
subjected to a public interest
override;
Mexico’s case: Exemptions do not
apply when it is a matter of public
interest, such as in violations of
human rights.

23. Exclusions:
distinct from exemptions;
must be as few as possible.
UK's FOI law has around 20
exemptions.

24. Existence of an independent
implementing agency
the ideal arrangement is to create
a special public body (with
Ombudsman Powers);
Note that without an independent
body, all appeals must go to the
courts.

25. Timeliness
there must be little delay in
getting documents (essential to
establish means of validation);
costs must be minimal;
specific procedural guidelines are
necessary to avoid the problem of
"mute requests”;
strict penalties for non-compliance

26. “Scrutiny is necessary for us to
determine the effectiveness of FOI laws,
and to see whether or not the spread of
an idea- that open access to government
information fosters the transparent
institutional environment necessary to be
able to hold ones government
accountable”.
Robert Hazell and Ben Worthy
"Assessing the Performance of Freedom of Information"

27. THANK YOU!