Right to Information : Case Studies on Implementation
This first round of eight case studies was completed in 2012. The case studies were prepared examining the experience of a number of countries that have passed Right to Information (RTI) legislation within the last 15 years: Albania, India, Mexico,...
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2015
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/08/24869623/right-information-case-studies-implementation http://hdl.handle.net/10986/22527 |
| Summary: | This first round of eight case studies
was completed in 2012. The case studies were prepared
examining the experience of a number of countries that have
passed Right to Information (RTI) legislation within the
last 15 years: Albania, India, Mexico, Moldova, Peru,
Romania, Uganda, and the United Kingdom. Each country case
study assesses four dimensions critical to the effective
implementation of RTI legislation as follows: 1. The scope
of the information that the law covers, which determines
whether an RTI law can serve as the instrument of more
transparent and accountable governance as envisaged by its
advocates. For example, a law that leaves too many
categories of information out of its purview, that does not
adequately apply to all agencies impacting public welfare or
using public resources, or that potentially contradicts with
other regulations, like secrecy laws, will not be effective.
2. Issues related to public sector capacity and incentives,
additional key functions and demands within the public
sector created by RTI, entities responsible for these
functions, and various organizational models for fulfilling
these functions. 3. Mechanisms for appeals and effective
enforcement against the denial of information(whether it be
an independent commission or the judiciary); the relative
independence, capacity, and scope of powers of the appeals
agency, and the ease of the appeals process; and the
application of sanctions in the face of unwarranted or mute
refusals, providing a credible environment. 4. The capacity
of civil society and media groups to apply the law to
promote transparency and to monitor the application of the
law, and a regulatory and political environment that enables
these groups to operate effectively. The in-depth research
presented in these case studies was conducted to examine
factors that promote the relative effectiveness of these
four key dimensions when implementing RTI reforms, including
institutional norms, political realities, and economic
concerns. An analysis was conducted to determine which
models have the potential to work in different contexts and
what lessons can be drawn from these experiences to help
countries currently in the process of setting up RTI regimes. |
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