Freedom of Information: A Comparative Legal Survey - Federation of ...

146
is a complex one. In some countries – such as Thailand and Peru – the law specifi cally provides that the
right of access does not extend to the processing of information, while the South African law limits this to
extraction of information by machine. In practice, most countries do in fact make some effort to extract
information from various electronic formats but within limits.
Various systems apply to fees. There are four main costs involved in the provision of information, namely
the cost of searching for the information, any costs associated with preparing or reviewing the information,
the cost of reproducing or providing access to the information and the cost of sending the information to
the requester, where this applies. Some countries, such as Mexico, Jamaica and Peru, restrict fees to the
cost of reproducing the information; in Peru, charging other costs is considered to be an obstruction of
access and can attract sanctions.
Many laws – including those of India, Japan and Sweden – make provision for a central body to set the
schedule of fees; in Japan, for example, this is set by Cabinet Order. This avoids a patchwork of fee structures
at different public bodies and tends to limit infl ationary fee pressures. Many countries also provide for fee
waivers in certain cases, such as for the poor; South Africa has established a specifi c income level below
which no charges may be levied.
In some countries, different fee regimes apply to different sorts of information. For example, in Mexico,
access to personal data is free, while in Azerbaijan, Sweden and Bulgaria, there are no charges for inspection
of information or for making one’s own copy. In some countries, only actual costs may be charged.
The United States law contains detailed provisions relating to fees, distinguishing between commercial
requesters, which may be charged for search, duplication and review of documents, educational or scientifi c
institutions, which may be charged only for duplication, and other requesters, who may be charged for
search and duplication. For the latter two groups, there is a waiver for the fi rst two hours of search and
fi rst 100 pages of copying. Finally, fees are effectively waived for public interest requests, which covers the
media and many NGOs. Other countries – including Kyrgyzstan and Sweden – also provide certain amounts
of time and photocopying for free.
Regardless of the system used, it is important to keep fee levels low so they do not exert a chilling effect
on the willingness of individuals to lodge requests for information. How best to address this will vary from
country-to-country, depending on factors such as wealth, engagement with the public sector and so on.
Sweden is relatively unique in requiring public bodies to prepare a register of all documents they hold, with
a few exceptions, for example, documents which are deemed to be of little importance; Azerbaijan has
also introduced a similar requirement in its law. The registers themselves are normally public documents,
available online, which clearly facilitates information requests enormously.
Duty to Publish
Most of the laws surveyed – with the exceptions of those of Sweden, South Africa and Japan, where more
general rules might still apply – impose a duty on public bodies to publish certain key information, even in
the absence of a request. This is in recognition of the fact that effective promotion of access to information
held by public bodies requires more than passive provision of information in response to requests. Indeed,
it is increasingly being recognised that this is one of the most important systems for promoting access to
information held by public bodies. Many of the newer right to information laws – such as those of Peru
(2002), Azerbaijan (2005), India (2005) and Kyrgyzstan (2007) – have extensive rules on proactive or routine
publication.
Most laws provide a list of the categories of documents that must be published, such as information
about their general operations, about the services they provide and about how to request information.
The specifi c list varies considerably from country to country; the detail in the country chapters will not be