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

clearly, or if the individual has diffi culty making a request, including because of illiteracy, the liaison section
must provide assistance (Articles 40-41 and Transitory Eighth).
Notifi cation of a decision on a request must be provided as soon as possible but in any event within 20
working days and the information must then be provided within another 10 working days, once the applicant
has paid any fees (Article 44). An unusual provision stipulates that failure to provide a decision within the
time limit will be understood as an acceptance of the request, and the agency will then be under an
obligation to provide the information within the next 10 days, and for free, unless IFAI determines that it is
confi dential (Article 53).
Where the information is deemed to be classifi ed or confi dential, the Committee – a supervisory unit within
all agencies and entities (see below) – must be notifi ed of this fact immediately, along with the reasons
for classifi cation, so that it may decide whether to ratify the classifi cation or to revoke it and grant access
to the information. Similarly, when documents are not found, the Committee must be notifi ed and, after
having taken “appropriate measures” to fi nd the information without success, confi rm that the agency or
entity does not hold the information (Articles 44-46).
Agencies are only required to provide access to information they hold (Article 42). However, where an
agency receives a request for information it does not hold, it must ‘duly orient’ the applicant to the agency
which does hold the information (Article 40). The Law does not include many provisions on third party
notice, but it does require that the document lodging an appeal indicate any interested third parties (Article
54) and Article 55, on the hearing of appeals, is generally understood to give certain rights to third parties.
The Law also provides generally that ‘internal procedures’ for processing requests will be established by
regulation (Article 44). 229
Where a request is satisfi ed, the applicant must be notifi ed of the cost and form of access (Article 44).
Where a request is refused and this has been confi rmed by the Committee, the applicant must be notifi ed
of this fact within the time limit, along with the reasons for the rejection and the manner in which the
decision may be appealed (Article 45). Confi rmation must also be provided to the applicant where the
agency does not hold the information sought (Article 46).
Disclosure must be in the form requested, if the document will permit that (Article 42). Otherwise, the
various forms of access shall be established by regulation (Article 44).
The provisions of the Law relating to fees are progressive. The fees for obtaining access to information,
which must be set out in the Federal Duties Law, 230 may not exceed the cost of the materials used to
reproduce the information, along with the cost of sending it. The cost of searching for the information and
preparing it is thus excluded (Article 27). Access to personal data is free, although charges may be levied to
cover the costs of delivery of this information (Article 24). Currently, allowable charges are 1 peso (USD.09)
for a simple photocopy and 20 pesos for a certifi ed copy. 231
The process described above applies only to agencies and entities, not other public bodies. A general
attempt is made in Article 61 to require other public bodies to process requests in an analogous fashion
by requiring them to “establish in their respective domains the institutions, criteria and institutional
procedures for granting private persons access to information according to regulations or agreements of a
general nature that comply with the principles and deadlines established in this Law.” They are specifi cally
required, within a year, to set up a number of systems and bodies for this purpose, including a liaison
section and procedures for access to information. They are also required to submit an annual report on the
activities undertaken to ensure access to information (Articles 62 and Transitory Fourth).
In an interesting innovation, the Law provides that requests for information and the responses to them
must themselves be published (Article 47). In practice, the whole request process can be conducted
electronically through the System for Information Requests (SISI), which has a separate website dedicated
to it. 232 This includes a facility for posting questions, as well as the answers. It also provides access to all
electronic documents to which access has been provided since 2003.
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