BackThe latest International Survey of Information Commissioners, conducted by the Centre for Freedom of Information, has been published on 17 November 2014. Some of the key findings, from the survey responses provided by 53 Commissioners/ Ombudsman in 33 countries, are:
How well do authorities comply with Commissioners decisions?
85% of Commissioners, who can order disclosure or otherwise require compliance with their decisions, say that authorities always comply or compliance occurs in a significant majority of cases. By contrast, none of the Commissioners who can only make recommendations reported that their decisions were always complied with, and only 45% said that compliance occurs in a significant majority of cases.
Are requests using social media valid?
Commissioners have widely varying views as to whether requests made using social media can ever be regarded as valid. 35% felt that generally such requests would be valid; 30% said they could never be valid. Many Commissioners had not yet had to deal with an appeals regarding refusal of such a request, which perhaps explains why 25% said they did not know if they were valid or not.
Should some private bodies/NGOs be made subject to access to information laws?
Nearly two thirds (63%) of Commissioners said there were private bodies/NGOs carrying out public functions or receiving public funds in their country, which should be made subject to the access to information law. The report details some of those bodies specifically identified in Australia, Azerbaijan, Canada, Germany, Indonesia, New Zealand, and the UK. Often they are bodies providing education, energy, or health care.
The full report, which also deals with the volume of appeals, adequacy of Commissioners resources, investigative powers of Commissioners and unreasonable requests is available below. This 2014 survey is the third conducted under the auspices of the Information Commissioners International Exchange Network (ICIEN). Direct comparisons between the results of this survey and those conducted in 2013 are not made. (The number taking part in this survey is greater. Some of those who participated in 2013 did not do so this time. By contrast a significant number of Commissioners who contributed to this survey had not responded to either of the surveys conducted last year.) However some limited reference is made to previous results for the purposes of illustration.
About the Centre for Freedom of Information
The Centre for Freedom of Information (CentreFoI) was jointly established by the University of Dundee and the Scottish Information Commissioner and is based in the School of Law, University of Dundee, Scotland. The CentreFoI is focused on the implementation, interpretation and enforcement of laws which provide rights to information.
About the Information Commissioners International Exchange Network (ICIEN)
The CentreFoI seeks the active involvement in the ICIEN of those who have a formal appellate or mediating role in dealing with appeals and complaints, with regard to access to information requests. Commissioners, Ombudsmen etc. at any level -national, state, provincial or municipal are entitled to be part of the Network.
Source: Centre for Freedom of Information
