Vexed Bermoothes

The Bermuda Government has been promising a Public Access to Information law for many years now.  the promise seems to get reiterated whenever the heat picks up regarding transparency, but then fades into the background again.  The facts show that it’s not a priority for the PLP.

Meanwhile, other countries move ahead one after the other.  It is part of basic reform of governance demanded by voters.  A PATI law allows the public to know what they are paying for.

In Bermuda, one day the chickens will come to roost and the public will demand to know where those hundreds of millions of dollars have gone, and what Government is doing with the great masses of information it collects, and how the public business is run.

Perhaps then, Bermuda will bring forward a PATI law.  It’s time for people who are interested in such matters to learn more about what makes a good public access law.

Earlier this year, the Carter Center re-energized attention on PATI by bringing together support for the “Atlanta Declaration and Plan of Action for the Advancement of the Right of Access to Information” [pdf].  It is worth reading:

• Access to information is the rule; secrecy is the exception;
• PATI should apply to all branches of government at all levels (including the executive, judicial, and legislative bodies, as well as autonomous bodies like quangos);
• PATI should include a right to request and receive information, and a positive obligation on public institutions to disseminate information related to their core function;
• The right to request information is independent of a personal interest in that information, and there should never be a need to provide a justification or reason;
• PATI should include procedures designed to ensure ease of use, with no unnecessary obstacles (such as cost, language, form or manner of request) and with an affirmative obligation to assist the requester and to provide the requested information within a specified and reasonable period of time;
• Exemptions to PATI should be narrowly drawn, specified in law, and limited only to those permitted by international law. All exemptions should be subject to a public interest override, which mandates release of otherwise exempt documents when the public benefit of release outweighs the potential public harm;
• The burden of proof to justify a denial should always falls on the holder of information;
• PATI should mandate full disclosure, after a reasonable period of time, of any document that was classified as secret or confidential for exceptional reasons at the time of its creation;
• PATI should include clear penalties and sanctions for non-compliance by public officials; and
• The requester should be guaranteed a right to appeal any decision, any failure to provide information, or any other infringement of the right of access to information to an independent authority with the power to make binding and enforceable decisions, preferably an intermediary body such as an Information Commission(er) or Specialist Ombudsman with a further right of appeal to a court of law.
• Companion legislation that would further promote PATI rights should be enacted including laws compelling disclosure of political party and campaign financing, lobbying disclosure, archiving legislation, whistleblowing protection, and professional public administration laws. Moreover, contradictory provisions, such as those contained within an Official Secrets Act, should be repealed.