(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 2 September 2004 IAPA press release: Access to Public Information in Argentina IAPA worried about restriction in Santa Fe but satisfied with court ruling in Cordoba Miami (September 1, 2004) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has expressed its concern over a legislative bill on access to public […]
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 2 September 2004 IAPA press release:
Access to Public Information in Argentina
IAPA worried about restriction in Santa Fe but satisfied with court ruling in Cordoba
Miami (September 1, 2004) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has expressed its concern over a legislative bill on access to public information in the Argentine province of Santa Fe. The bill stipulates that people requesting information would be required to show a “legitimate reason” for needing the information.
The IAPA is worried about the access to information bill, which was originally proposed by Santa Fe Governor Jorge Obeid. On August 26, during debate in the local Congress, the Senate included a condition that requires those who request public information to demonstrate a “legitimate reason”. This condition will be reviewed by the governor’s coordination minister, presidents of both chambers of Congress and the chief justice of the provincial Supreme Court. The bill will be sent to the House of Representatives for discussion.
Rafael Molina, chairman of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, from El Nacional newspaper in the Dominican Republic, stated that, “given this restriction, the bill is inherently flawed.” He added that there would be more guarantees for access to information if other laws recently approved in Latin American countries, where citizens are not required to justify their reasons for obtaining public information but simply need to ask for it verbally or in writing, were followed.
During a Hemispheric Conference organized by the IAPA in Washington, D.C. in May, the institution made a series of recommendations for the drafting of access to information laws that consider, among other points, that it is the State’s obligation to make public official information and to have an expeditious information delivery system, a method of penalizing officials who restrict information and a minimal fee charged to the citizens making the request.
More information on these recommendations can be found at: http://www.sipiapa.com/cumbre
Court Ruling
Meanwhile, the IAPA expressed its satisfaction with a court ruling in the province of Cordoba in favor of a newspaper’s request for access to public information.
La Voz del Interior newspaper in Cordoba filed an appeal in court against Cordoba’s Public Services Regulatory Agency (ERSEP) for unfairly delaying access to minutes from the agency’s Board of Directors’ meetings. The newspaper was investigating whether the agency – responsible for protecting the interests of its citizens – had taken the necessary steps to stop the distribution of drinking water contaminated with high levels of nitrates.
Judge Raquel Villagra considered in her ruling that ERSEP’s delay in providing the requested documents was unfair and illegal. In the ruling, Villagra added, “the request [for information] made by La Voz del Interior constitutes a normal exercise of its right to inform” and she ordered the regulatory agency to pay the newspaper’s legal expenses.
Molina believes the ruling of the Cordoba court “confirmed that approval of an access to public information law in the country is important in order to ensure and promote transparency in government.”
