A freedom of information request is a form that enables the public to view government files and records. The executive order established the first freedom of information foi program in the philippines covering all government offices under the executive branch. Freedom of information act foia requests for public records. The purpose of this bill is to give the public a general right of access to official documents and to. Freedom of information act organization of american states. Clause 5 requires public entities, public commercial entities and holders of statutory bodies to disclose information which is in the interest of public accountability and in. However, providing this information may assist uscis in locating the records and information needed to respond to your request. The enactment of the freedom of information act fia or the act can be traced to the. It took seventeen years from the origin of its first draft until its adoption. Library bill of rights american library association. All newly enacted provisions in boldface type replace the strikethrough text. It does this through campaigning, the publication of briefings and other reports and research. Philippine president rodrigo duterte signed executive order no. The first draft of the bill was prepared by tunde fagbohunlu san in 1994.
First, the foia gives the public the right to ask for federal agency records. The freedom of information act foia is a law that gives you the right to access information from the federal government. The freedom of information bill2 was published on 19 november 1999. The campaign for freedom of information is an advocacy group that promotes and defends freedom of information in the uk. The texas public information act sets requirements for the ability of citizens to access information on action taken by governmental bodies.
It is often described as the law that keeps citizens in. Freedom of information act central bank of nigeria. Creating a new era of open government, department of justice, april 17, 2009 attorney general holders policy memorandum on. The emergence of freedom of information legislation was a response to increasing dissatisfaction with the secrecy surrounding government policy development and decision making. Extension of time limit for granting or refusing application 7. Official and unofficial documents concerning the foia. While every effort was made to attain complete accuracy. Pdf documents can contain links and buttons, form fields, audio, video, and business logic. A pdf writer that produces quality pdf files with ease.
A record is information in any format, including maps, photographs, computer. Model freedom of information bill the commonwealth. The freedom of information act 2011 was passed by both chambers of the 6th national assembly on 24th may 2011 and assented by president goodluck ebele jonathan on 28th may, 2011. Memorandum for will sparks and bob hardesty from robert e. Ii an outline of the scheme the bill creates a statutory right to information which will supersede the nonstatutory. Freedom of information is a necessity in order to salvage the nation nigeria and move it towards the part of economic and social transformation. It aims to reinforce and give further effect to certain fundamental principles underlying the system of constitutional democracy, namely. House committee on government reform, september 20, 2005, house report 109226 pdf. Freedom of expression is an inalienable human right and the. It requires all executive departments, agencies, bureaus, and offices to disclose. The object of the bill is to extend the right of members of the public to access information in the possession of public authorities by, inter alia a making available to the public, information about the operations of public. The freedom of information act 2014 came into effect in october 2014 and repealed the 1997 and 2003 acts. The freedom of information act department of justice. Freedom of information bill, 2012 c freedom of information bill, 2012 a bill for an act to give to the public a general right of access to records held by public authorities and to make provision for incidential and connected purposes.
It is often described as the law that keeps citizens in the know about their government. This link goes to the houses of the oireachtas website. Johnson on july 4, 1966, that granted american citizens the right to see the contents of files maintained about them by federal executive branch agencies, including the federal bureau of investigation, the. The freedom of information act, as amended by the foia improvement act of 2016. The worlds first freedom of information act anders chydenius. This means giving jpeg and pdf files are a nono, he said. Further weakening of press freedom in the united states would be a setback for democracy everywhere.
As at december 2015, more than countries have the law either as a constitutional provision or as extant domestic law. The congress and government have been working on the bill for a long time but have not come to a conclusive format and it may take longer to draft the ideal bill. In fact, the signing statement includes more about the need to keep secrets than the urgency of. It sets out the revised government proposals, but also contains new provisions applying freedom of information and data protection to parliament. It seeks to strengthen the publics rights under the freedom of information act 2000 and related laws and opposes attempts to weaken them. Freedom of information bill part 2 september 2014 issue 19 the freedom of information bill was drafted to do away with secrecy in the public arena. Article v of the library bill of rights states, a persons right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views. The 2014 act introduced a number of changes to the freedom of information system and widened the range of bodies to which the foi legislation applies it now applies to all public bodies, unless they are specifically exempt. Analysis of the republic of kenya draft freedom of. Part iv of the bill sets out various grounds upon which a request for access should. Freedom of information ii generate information in respect of their activities, maintain it systematically for easy retrieval and to securely preserve its integrity. Freedom of information acts irelands health service.
The freedom of information act foia generally provides that any person has the right to request access to federal agency records or information except to the extent the records are protected from disclosure by any of nine exemptions contained in the law or by one of three special law enforcement record exclusions. For me, the freedom of information bill should be pass into law, because this bill is the most significant and very important law to our country, because it promotes good governance, accountability and to have transparency so we can prevent corruption and also every citizen has a legal right of access to information. Statement of purpose the freedom of information extension bill will seek to make housing associations, local safeguarding children boards, electoral registration officers, returning officers and the housing ombudsman public authorities for the purpose of the freedom of information act 2000, whilst. In this regard, it is important to discuss the merits and demerits of freedom of information act in general. The focus of this paper is to xray the nigerian freedom of information bill, its relevance and challenges in the scheme of national development. Access to digital information, services, and networks. Freedom of information bill 2012 article 19 free word centre, 60 farringdon rd, london ec1r 3ga. You can find information about all of these topics and more in the central intelligence agency cia freedom of information act foia electronic reading room. For enquiries under the freedom of information act please contact us. The freedom of information foi act signed into law on may 28, 2011 is an act that gives every nigerian a legal right of access to information, records, and documents held by government bodies and private. If the information you want is not publicly available, you can submit a foia request to the agencys foia office.
As with the right to freedom of expression, the right to privacy is a recognized human right and freedom of information acts as an extension to this right. If you have questions pertaining to a foia request, you should ask an expert to assist you in making the right choice for your individual situation. An act to give members of the public rights of access to official documents of the government and public authorities and to. Freedom of information act foia, federal act signed into law by u. Shourie a bill to provide freedom to every citizen to secure access to information under the control of public authorities, consistent with public interest, in order to promote openness, transparency. Freedom of information act and amendments of 1974 library of. Failure to do so will delay the processing of your request. The freedom of information act foia states that any person has a right of access to federal agency records, except to the extent that such records are protected from release by a foia exemption or a special law enforcement record exclusion. Takhar private members bill 1st reading march 21, 2018 2nd reading.
More information on adobe acrobat pdf files is available on our accessibility page. The freedom of information act, or foia, was signed into law by president lyndon johnson in 1966, giving the public the right to access records from any federal agency. Freedom of information laws allow access by the general public to data held by national governments. Freedom of information bill 2007 arrangement of clauses clause. Access to documents freedom of information could fuel public discussion. Of 2004 a bill for an act to give members of the public rights of access to official documents of the government and its agencies, in accordance with section 174 of the constitution, to promote maximum disclosure of information in the public interest, to. Dec 02, 2015 this document provides background information on how the freedom of information bill was developed. Lbj refused ceremony, undercut bill with signing statement. Freedom of information bill, 1997 as suggested by a committee, headed by h. Get the most informative and complete hostage rescue. Data protection issues bill 5 of 19992000 this paper complements research paper 9998, the freedom of information bill, which describes the main elements of the proposed freedom of information foi regime. Enacted by the parliament of the bahamas part i preliminary 1.
The freedom of information act foia generally provides that any person has the right to request access to federal agency records or information except to the extent the records are protected from disclosure by any of nine exemptions contained in the law or by one of three special law enforcement record exclusions exemptions. Cia annual foia reports updated april 22, 2019 the cia foia annual report is now available in pdf, and in machinereadable xml formats. Commentary on draft freedom of information bill cm 4355. Compatible across nearly all windows platforms, simply open the document you want to conve rt, click print, select. Feb 16, 2012 freedom of information bill, 2012 c freedom of information bill, 2012 a bill for an act to give to the public a general right of access to records held by public authorities and to make provision for incidential and connected purposes. Freedom of info around the world national democratic institute. The freedom of information bill foi bill is a proposed law that seeks to give every nigerian citizen a legally enforceable right of access to records, documents and information held by the government or government institutions and agencies as well as private bodies performing public functions, subject to certain exemptions. The freedom of information act foia was enacted by congress in 1966 to. The freedom of information bill 1978 pdf format appendix2. The draft model freedom of information bill was considered by senior officials at their meeting in november 2001, held at marlborough house, london. Solon files freedom of information bill, urges creation of information commission. The freedom of information act 2011 foi what it means. Most federal agencies now accept foia requests electronically, including by web form, email or fax. There is a lot of governmental information available to the public thanks to the foia, including autopsy reports, campus crime information, divorce records and county jail rosters, but even after all the recent changes, the law still has limitations.
The freedom of information bill what is the foi bill. Part i of this paper describes the interface between foi and the data protection act 1998. But significant elements in the draft bill are based on the paternalistic model of open government, with the government deciding what we need to know. Creating a new era of open government, department of justice, april 17, 2009. The revised model freedom of information bill was considered and endorsed by commonwealth law ministers at their meeting of 1821 november 2002, held in kingstown, st vincent and the grenadines.
Kintner, remarks for the president on signing freedom of information bill, june 21, 1966. This document provides background information on how the freedom of information bill was developed. Moreover, the provision for documents specacaey exempted by statute 6 u. Freedom of information act 2011 laws of the federation of nigeria arrangement of sections 1. How to file a freedom of information act foia request.
Under the freedom of information act 5 usc 552 i hereby request access to u. The acts are also available for download as pdf files. As passed by lok sabha on 3 december, 2002 bill no. Commentary on draft freedom of information bill cm 4355, may. Freedom of information act in the philippines soapboxie. The request simply must be in writing and reasonably describe the records you seek. Any person may obtain public records for inspection or copying, in accordance with the provisions of the illinois freedom of information act, by submitting a request, preferably in writing or on the ccfpd public records examination request form, to the designated freedom of. They can be signed electronically, and you can easily view pdf files on windows or mac os using the free acrobat reader dc software. Johnson library, special files, 19271973, presidents night reading, box 3, june 1966.
One particular aspect of my filed bill, which i will fight tooth and nail for, is to make available all statistical data on budgets, appropriations, contracts, and the like in machine readable format. A proposed legislation that will concretize what has been enshrined in the constitution regarding the peoples right to have access to records, documents, and all other official acts of government as guaranteed in sec. B in making any record available to a person under this paragraph, an agency shall provide the record in any form or format requested by the. Freedom of information at 40 national security archive. Jun 07, 2018 the congress and government have been working on the bill for a long time but have not come to a conclusive format and it may take longer to draft the ideal bill. Freedom of information is random, citizendriven, and often hard to predict. The pdf is now an open standard, maintained by the international organization for standardization iso. The freedom of information act, as amended by the foia improvement act of 2016 doj reply to congressional questions on foia policy, june 10, 20 in reply to february 4, 20 letter office of information policy oi guidance. Family name last name given name first name middle name. Freedom of information act 2011 laws of the federation of nigeria an act to make public records and information more freely available, provide for public access to public records and information, protect public records and information to the extent consistent with the public interest and the protection of. Freedom of information act electronic reading room cia. Nov 15, 2018 this means that requests for these records must be submitted under the freedom of information act foia. Freedom of information law questions about freedom of.
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