EUROsociAL+ helps to draft an Access to Public Information law for Latin America

The Inter-American Juridical Committee (CJI) of the Organization of American States (OAS) has already approved the Proposed Model Law 2.0 On Access To Public Information, which will be submitted for consideration at the next OAS General Assembly.

EUROsociAL+, the European financing project managed by FIIAPP together with other implementing agencies, has made a decisive contribution to the development of this proposed model law through the Red de Transparencia y Acceso (Network for Transparency and Access to Public Information (RTA)). This technical support consisted of organising meetings for debate and sharing experiences by enforcement bodies and public information rights advocates, and the systematic introduction of good practices contributed by the specialists.

The regulation aims to make access to information an established public right that will improve government transparency. It will also support the fight against corruption, encouraging investment and economic growth.

The law covers aspects like the nature and functions of enforcement bodies, the exceptions scheme, the parties bound by the regulation, active transparency and the definitions and extent of the right of access to information. The regulatory framework also incorporates the gender perspective, making it one of the first legal instruments of the Inter-American System to do so.

The document management model and the implementation guide that incorporates the standard, has been created by specialists from the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sports, based on the RTA model.

This law is intended to be an essential reference for governments, public enforcers and access to information rights advocates, as well as for civil society organisations involved in this subject.