They establish a "right-to-know" legal process by which requests may be made for government-held information, to be received freely or at minimal cost, barring standard exceptions.
The rules contained in this law are designated to ensure the public access to information, in the framework of assuming the rights and freedoms of the individual in practice, as well as establishing views on the state and society situation.
Every person shall, where deemed that the rights provided for in this law have been violated, be entitled to file a complaint administratively to the Information and Data Protection Commissioner's Office.
Official secrecy remains enshrined in the constitution, and Austria’s overall legal framework on access to information is weak" writes the NGO Freedom House in its 2022 and 2023 reports.
"[22] In the context of a newly proposed public access law that has yet to be passed by parliament, Transparency International writes: "More than 110 countries have already created freedom of information – Nonsense that this should not be possible in Austria.
A 393-page report released in September 2008, sponsored by several Canadian newspaper groups, compares Canada's Access to Information Act to the FOI laws of the provinces and of 68 other nations.
[31] Article 23 of the constitution states that "Every person has the right to present petitions to the authorities for the general or private interest and to secure their prompt resolution.
In Croatia, the Zakon o pravu na pristup informacijama (Act on the Right of Access to Information) first introduced in 2003 extends to all public authorities.
[45] The requests are supposed to be handled as soon as possible; if within period of 10 days response to an application was not provided, the authority has to inform on reasons for the delay as well as expected date for a decision.
[51] The new act was highly debated since it was considered to limit transparency in the Government and legislative proceedings; Denmark received one point less in the category of Political Environment when compared with the Freedom of the Press report of 2015.
However, the court found that in the specific case, which included living near a high-risk factory, not providing information was in violation of Article 8 (respect to private and family life).
[56] The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has considered in 1996, that "public access to clear and full information on this subject [Chernobyl disaster]—and many others for that matter—must be viewed as a basic human right".
[68] Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and Council provides for citizens of each country to have freedom of access to information on the environment, in line with the requirements of the Aarhus Convention.
Thirteen of the sixteen Bundesländer—Baden-Württemberg, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland, Sachsen-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein and Thüringen—have approved individual "Informationsfreiheitsgesetze" (Freedom of Information laws).
[73] Guyana has a freedom of information act, which came into force in 2013, but it has relatively weak provisions.A commission tasked with ensuring asset declarations by government officials has begun functioning since 2018.Guyana also entered into the EITI, which guarantees the transparency of the proceeds of oil reserves of countries.
It requires government agencies listed in its appendix to appoint Access to Information Officers to answer citizens' requests for governmental records.
Question No.115 Starred 28 November 2019 India Justice Report 2019 Legal Aid to Poor A number of high-profile disclosures revealed corruption in various government schemes such scams in Public Distribution Systems (ration stores), disaster relief, construction of highways etc.
[citation needed] some Government agencies now take the position that a citizen may only request information via FOIL—i.e., an official letter designated as such and including the 95 shekel fee.
In many cases FOIL letters are simply ignored,[citation needed] or some laconic response is sent stating the request is either unclear, unspecific, too vague or some other legalese, anything in order to keep the information away from the public.
A judgement in such FOIL appeals in Israel can take many months, and again the agency can easily[neutrality is disputed] avoid disclosure by simply not complying, although risking being charged with contempt of court.
The Federal Law of Transparency and Access to Public Government Information was unanimously approved by Congress in April 2002 and signed by President Fox in June 2002.
[106] Article 110 of the Constitution states: "In the exercise of their duties government bodies shall observe the principle of transparency in accordance with the rules to be prescribed by Act of Parliament."
Former President Goodluck Jonathan signed into law the Freedom of Information (FoI) Bill, awaited for 12 years by media proprietors and practitioners alike, during which the Villa got knocks for filibustering and lawmakers complained of bombardment by campaigners.
The same article states that public sources of information are free, and that a law will regulate the modalities, time periods, and sanctions “in order to make this right effective”.
The ruling from the Supreme Court was made in the context of an Amparo filed by a citizen called Jose Daniel Vargas Tellez, after the San Lorenzo Municipality denied him access to the information about the names, the job descriptions and the wages of all the employees that were working in that public office.
Without prejudice to the law governing matters concerning internal and external security, criminal investigation and personal privacy, citizens also have the right of access to administrative files and records.
The implementation of the Act is expected to take time due to the necessity of establishing cadre positions in government institutions to provide information to the general public.
[132] In Turkey, the Turkish Law on the Right to Information (Bilgi Edinme Hakkı Kanunu) was signed on 24 October 2003, and it came into effect 6 months later on 24 April 2004.
The Hub for Investigative Media (HIM) in Uganda offers training programs that teaches East-African journalists in matters of fact-checking and digital security.
[137] In the United States the Freedom of Information Act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on 4 July 1966, and went into effect the following year.