Global Comparative Testing of Responses to FOI Requests

Today, on International Day for Universal Access to Information (IDUAI), the Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) relesed a report on the Global Comparative Testing of Responses to Requests for Information, the first global exercise in which the same two requests for information were put to public authorities in as many of the 140 countries with right to information (RTI) laws as possible. Fully 38% of the responses were mute refusals (no response at all), while 51% of the responses provided some information (among which 42% were full disclosures, albeit some late).
 
“The global RTI stress test exercise really highlights key implementation challenges with RTI laws globally, with a high rate of mute refusals but, positively, a higher rate of some information being provided and almost no reasoned refusals (i.e. refusals based on exceptions),” said Toby Mendel, Executive Director of CLD. “Regionally, Central and Eastern Europe did the best, overall, with the Arab Region coming in last place, Africa being the weakest after that, and Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific, and Western Europe and North America all fairly close together in the middle.”
 
The testing exercise will help reinvigorate campaigns for better implementation of RTI laws in countries around the world and is an important resource for governments to recognize the importance of transparency in building trust and validity.
 
The testing report is available here.