Access Info Europe (Spain) and the Centre for Law and Democracy (Canada) are today launching a report providing an analysis of the results and trends in the global RTI Rating, which assesses the legal framework for the right to information (RTI) in every country in the world which has adopted a national RTI law. A major finding of the report is that as international standards have developed laws have got stronger. At the same time, there is still a lot of room for improvement, with only 23 countries scoring more than 100 points.
“Our report shows that RTI laws have steadily improved over time, with the average score climbing from just 78 out of a possible total of 150 in 1995 to an average of 91 for the laws adopted since 2010,” said Toby Mendel, Executive Director of the Centre for Law and Democracy. “This is probably due partly to the fact that later laws can build on the experience of earlier laws, and partly to the fact that there are now stronger and clearer international standards on this key issue.”
One finding of the report is that some of the world’s weakest laws are in the older democracies of Europe. Austria is bottom with 37 points out of 150 points, Germany just scored 52 points and Italy 57 points. Spain has no law and its current draft has scored a very low 68 points.
Helen Darbishire, Executive Director of Access Info Europe, commented: “It’s clear that now that access to information is recognised as a fundamental right, we are getting stronger laws. We call on countries lower in the rating such as Austria, Germany and Italy urgently to improve their laws, and those in the process of adopting new laws, such as Spain, should aim for a high score.”
For further information, please contact:
Toby Mendel
Executive Director
Centre for Law and Democracy
Email: toby@law-democracy.org
Tel: +1 902 412 0872
www.law-democracy.org
Twitter: @law_democracy
