The RTI Rating (rti-rating.org) is the leading global tool for assessing the strength of national legal frameworks for accessing information held by public authorities (or the right to information, RTI). It is widely used by inter-governmental organisations, RTI advocates, reformers, legislators and others.
CLD has also applied the RTI Rating to Canada’s 14 federal, provincial and territorial access laws.
The RTI Rating provides a reliable assessment both of the overall strength of the legal framework and the strengths and weaknesses of the legal framework in seven different categories, namely: Right of Access, Scope, Requesting Procedures, Exceptions and Refusals, Appeals, Sanctions and Protections, and Promotional Measures.
The RTI Rating consists of a set of 61 indicators, each with a range of possible scores typically between 0-2 points, for a possible total of 150 points, a higher score being better. The Indicators are drawn from a wide range of international standards on the right to information, as well as a comparative study of numerous right to information laws from around the world. An Advisory Council of renowned experts on the right to information provided detailed advice to CLD and AIE on the development of the Indicators. For a detailed description of the project, click here.
The RTI rating system was launched on Right to Know Day, 28 September 2011 and has been continuously updated since that time so as to include all national RTI laws.
The RTI rating system is distinct from CLD’s complementary efforts to evaluate the implementation of RTI.
