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

78
Article 20 provides a long list of 36 categories of information which must be published on an annual
basis. This includes information about the work and structure of the public body, procedures by which
individuals can engage with the body, information about the documents held by the body, and its system of
managing information, information about the projects being undertaken by the body, fi nancial information
about budgets and funds received from foreign bodies, and detailed information on tenders and open
competitions.
Articles 22-25 provide for direct access to offi cial information. Article 23 deals with direct access via offi cial
State foundations and the rules governing this, such as an obligation to establish special places where
individuals can study documents, timelines for making information available (for example, one week for
legal acts and other documents which are signed) and so on. Pursuant to Article 24, public bodies must send
offi cial reports, manuals and other offi cial information to libraries, while Article 25 requires public bodies
to develop electronic databases of information, with at least a full list of laws currently in force. Access to
such electronic databases shall be free. Article 31 supplements this by requiring public bodies to connect
to public information networks, to create emails for receiving and responding to requests electronically,
and to create user stations in places easily accessible to citizens – such as State buildings, libraries, post
offi ces and so on – to facilitate electronic access in practice. Article 30 provides for the establishment by
public bodies of special units to deal with the provision of information.
On the one hand, these are extensive and progressive obligations, linked to practical systems for access
such as spaces where individuals can study documents or access electronic databases. At the same
time, the real extent of the obligation of proactive disclosure is not very clear. The repeated references to
information – such as legal acts, the contact details of State bodies and the list of foreign representatives
– which goes online as a matter of course in many countries suggests that the obligations may not be as
extensive as they at fi rst appear. While the specifi c disclosure obligations regarding tenders is impressive,
much other fi nancial information is described in very general terms – such as “information about the
execution of the budget” – and some disclosure obligations found in other countries, such as a list of civil
servants and their salaries, are missing.
Open Meetings
The Kyrgyz RTI Law is relatively unique in establishing a system of access to public meetings. 213 Article
26 establishes the basic principle, which is that ‘sessions’ of public bodies are open to citizens and
representatives of local legal entities, apart from closed sessions. It is not clear what the term ‘sessions’
refers to but the Law refers later to ‘sessions of executive bodies’, which would appear to cover only senior,
formal decision-making meetings. The same article provides for meetings to be closed in accordance
with the exceptions set out in Article 5 (see below) and for individuals to apply to attend meetings. Article
27 deals with notice, providing for publication in the media on a monthly basis of the plan of meetings,
and of the agenda, date, time and place of meetings, as well as notice of meetings being provided at the
location of the meeting at least a week before it is held. Article 28 deals with the mechanics of applying
to attend, including that there shall be at least fi ve public places in the case of ordinary public bodies
and 10 for representative (i.e. elected) bodies, and a system for prioritisation should applications exceed
space. Finally, Article 29 provides for removal of those who refuse to obey the rules, as well as the right of
those attending to take notes, and make photo and video recordings, as long as this does not disturb the
meeting.
The inclusion of these provisions is extremely welcome and clearly signals a real intention to be open. The
rules probably need further elaboration, however. The types of meetings that are included within the ambit
of the rules should be elaborated. The grounds for closure should also be elaborated as Article 5, which
deals with exempt information, is probably not tailored to the specifi c matter of closure of meetings.
Exceptions
Unlike most right to information laws, the Kyrgyz RTI Law does not include a comprehensive list of
exceptions but, instead, refers simply to secrecy legislation. Article 2(3) provides that the RTI Law does