Monthly Archives: November 2013
Proposals for a Framework for Consultation On the Second Canadian OGP Action Plan
A key element of the OGP process is that the country-level action plans should be developed in a broadly consultative manner with local stakeholders. The third common expectation of OGP Participating Countries, as spelled out in the June 2012 Articles of Governance, is that States should: Develop country action plans through a multi-stakeholder process, with … Continue reading
Ireland: Campaign to block FOI fee increases successful, but unacceptable €15 up-front fee remains
Intense campaigning by Irish and international civil society organisations has resulted in an important policy reversal by the Irish government. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin, has withdrawn, for now at least, an amendment to the Freedom of Information Bill 2013 which threatened to charge multiple up-front fees for requests deemed to … Continue reading
Copyright Provisions in TPP Threaten Freedom of Expression
Over the past three years, delegates from 12 countries representing 800 million people and 40% of the global economy have been secretly negotiating a sweeping trade agreement known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Since their inception, the TPP negotiations have been widely criticised for their lack of transparency and failure to involve non-State players, including … Continue reading
Indonesia: CLD and ICEL Train Officials in Banten
The success or failure of a right to information regime is heavily dependent on the public officials who are tasked with implementation, and whether they are informed about their transparency obligations. Yesterday, as part of a wider project to support implementation of the Indonesian Law on Public Information Openness, the Centre for Law and Democracy … Continue reading
OGP Countries Need to Take the Right to Information Seriously
Global right to information organisations Access Info Europe (AIE) and the Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) today called on Open Government Partnership (OGP) Participating Countries to make serious commitments to strengthen their right to information laws in the next round of action plans, due to be presented in April 2014. One of the biggest … Continue reading