Principles of the Right of Access to Official Information in Latin America
In: Hermann-Josef Blanke; Ricardo Perlingeiro. (Org.). The Right of Access to Public Information : An International Comparative Legal Survey. 1ed.Heidelberg: Springer, 2018, v. 1, p. 71-130
Posted: 18 Jun 2018
Date Written: June 14, 2018
Abstract
This article takes as its starting point the 10 principles of right to access information declared in 2008 by the Inter-American Juridical Committee (CJI) of the Organisation of American States (OAS), and the OAS’s Inter-American Model Law on Access to Public Information, published in 2010, which systematise the case law of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. It is a comparative study, which – in light of the theory of fundamental rights – contrasts the level of influence of the Inter-American System of Human Rights in terms of the legislation and judicial precedents of the 18 Latin-American countries that are of Iberian origin and are subject to the American Convention (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela). Consequently, it points out the positive and negative aspects of the national laws governing information access in Latin America. Contents 1 Introduction. 2 Information access as a fundamental human right. 3 Responsibilities for implementing the right to information. 4 Scope of protection of the right to information. 5 Duty to protect against threats to other fundamental rights that may arise from access to information. 5.1 Limits on the right to information. 5.1.1 The German principle of the reservation of title in the law (Vorbehalt des Gesetzes) in the legal dogmatic of fundamental rights. 5.1.2 Reservation of title in the law in Latin America. 5.1.3 Limitations on the right to information in order to protect public and private interests. 5.1.4 Commercial interests and trade secrets. 5.1.5 International relations. 5.2 Limits on the right to access information. 5.2.1 Predominant public interest. 5.2.2 Serious human rights violations. 5.2.3 Partial disclosure. 5.2.4 Provisional nature of the limits to protect public interests. 5.2.5 Limits on the limits to protect the right to privacy. 5.2.6 Information inherent in the duties exercised by public officials. 5.2.7 Facts, analyses of facts, technical and statistical information. 5.2.8 Approved public policy and the examination or audit concluded. 6 Guarantees of protection of the right to information. 6.1 Principle of maximum disclosure. 6.2. Right to information as a universal right. 6.3 Right to petition [and the right to a reasoned decision]. 6.3.1 Administrative requests. 6.3.2 Duty to indicate and prove compliance with the requirements for the imposition of limits. 6.3.3 Effects of administrative omissions. 6.4 Rights of non-judicial and judicial appeal. 6.5 Independent and impartial authorities: non-judicial and judicial. 6.6 Proactive disclosure. 6.7 Penalties for obstructing the right to information. 6.8 Public policies related to information access. 7 Closing considerations.
Keywords: Human Rights, Fundamental Rights, Access to Official Information
JEL Classification: K11, K13, K14, K23, N40
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation