The new law followed years of advocacy (beginning in 2003) by journalists, NGOs and congress members. It is also important to the Rousseff administration’s efforts to project Brazil as a serious and responsible global player (and one that merits a seat at the top table at the UN and other multilateral forums). Brazil last year co-founded, along with the US, the Open Government Partnership (OGP). The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, who is leading the US effort, recently showered Rousseff with praise on a trip to Brazil for the first OGP summit.
The new law regulates the right of access to public information already guaranteed by the 1988 Constitution. Its main objective is to facilitate procedures for processing information requests – mainly by setting up a central site for public information and requests, the Electronic System Information Service for Citizens (e-SIC). An international NGO called Article 19 notes that it also “covers obligations concerning proactive disclosure and the duty to provide data in an open and non-proprietary format; and provides for sanctions for those who deny access to information not protected by law. It also outlines exceptions that generally comply with international standards of freedom of information.”
Local civil society groups have welcomed the law but note that implementation will be a major challenge in a country the size of Brazil, where the political culture has long been inclined towards secrecy. Transparency is a bit of an alien concept not only in Brasília but also at the state and municipal level. Government officials acknowledge that it will probably take a decade or more to get the law fully functioning. (LatinNews will examine the new law and the OGP in more detail in a forthcoming edition of the Brazil & Southern Cone Report.)
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