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

The Aarhus Convention has reasonably detailed rules on fees, with Article 4(8) stating:
Each Party may allow its public authorities to make a charge for supplying information, but
such charge shall not exceed a reasonable amount. Public authorities intending to make
such a charge for supplying information shall make available to applicants a schedule of
charges which may be levied, indicating the circumstances in which they may be levied
or waived and when the supply of information is conditional on the advance payment of
such a charge.
In practice, there is wide variance in the way that different countries approach the question of fees for
access to information.
PRINCIPLE 7. OPEN MEETINGS
Meetings of public bodies should be open to the public
The ARTICLE 19 Principles include the idea of open meetings. The rationale underlying the right to
information applies, as a matter of principle, not only to information in recorded form, but also to meetings
of public bodies. In other words, it should make little difference whether the information in question is
transmitted via a permanent record or orally during a meeting. The UN Standards support this, stating:
“The [right to information] law should establish a presumption that all meetings of governing bodies are
open to the public”.
In practice it is rare, although not unknown, for right to information laws to require meetings of public
bodies to be open. Some countries have separate laws on this.
PRINCIPLE 8. DISCLOSURE TAKES PRECEDENCE
Laws which are inconsistent with the principle of maximum disclosure should be
amended or repealed
International law does not dictate how States implement its rules, including in the area of fundamental
human rights, and this is also true of the right to information. As a result, it is up to States to determine how
to address the issue of exceptions to the right of access. At the same time, almost all States have a range
of secrecy laws on their books, many of which fail to conform to the standards noted above, in particular in
relation to exceptions. They are, therefore, under an obligation to put in place some mechanism to address
this problem.
Over time, a commitment should be made to review all laws which restrict the disclosure of information,
with a view to bringing them into line with the right to information law. As Principle IV(2) of the African
Declaration states: “[S]ecrecy laws shall be amended as necessary to comply with freedom of information
principles”.
However, this is in most cases at least a medium-term solution. A more short-term solution, which
allows for more-or-less immediate effect to be given to the right to information, is to provide that the law
establishing the right to information shall take precedence over secrecy laws. Where possible, this should
be achieved through applying a restrictive interpretation of secrecy laws. However, where a more serious
confl ict which cannot be resolved in this way presents itself, the right to information law may override the
confl icting secrecy law.
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