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

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must make each such report available at a central website and also provide his or her own central report
to Congress.
The reporting requirements vary but certain information is commonly required to be provided such as the
number of requests received, granted and refused, the provisions of the law relied upon to refuse requests
and how frequently, appeals, whether internal or to the oversight body, their outcome, the time taken to
process requests, fees charged, measures taken to implement the law and recommendations for reform.
In a number of countries – Thailand, Mexico, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Azerbaijan – the oversight
body has a general responsibility to promote implementation of the law which may include monitoring
implementation, providing training, interpreting the law, developing forms and other implementation tools,
giving advice to applicants and/or public bodies, and making recommendations for reform. In several
countries – such as Jamaica, the United States and Japan – the law specifi cally provides for some form of
periodic review of the operation of the law. In Kyrgyzstan, the law also provides for a review of all laws which
restrict the disclosure of information with a view to bringing them into line with the right to information
law.
Notes
340. For example, private bodies have complained of the cost of producing guides on how
to access information they hold.
341. ARTICLE 19 (London: 1996).
342. Smolla, Rodney, Free Speech in an Open Society (New York: Knopf, 1992), p. 319.