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Information liberty laws grant in principle a free entrance to all information (public principle), existing in the public administrations, to the citizens in their area of application. They regulate the appropriate rights and put the closer procedure firmly, in order to grant this free entrance. Information liberty laws serve for primarily to the democratic opinion and will formation.
On 21 February 2002 by the Council of Europe a recommendation was published to adopt information liberty laws in all member states of the Council of Europe. There are information liberty laws in nearly all European countries.
Before the information liberty law of the federation, which stepped on 1 January 2006 into force, no general insight right existed for citizens in authority documents. There was a multiplicity of single regulations, about insight rights to registers and archives as well as taking part rights in the procedural law. In the procedural law the principle applies that with special interest right to insight exists into the own documents. A general insight right for everyone insisted only on the area of the environmental information. The environmental information law 1994 issued due to a guideline of the European community.
A discussion topic was the question, as far the official secret and above all the data security particularly sophisticated in Germany can go in the European Union and its member states before the background of the uninformativeness and may.
Inkraftgetreten are information liberty laws already in the Lands of the Federal Republic Brandenburg (to the 11. March 1998), Berlin (to 16 October 1999), Schleswig-Holstein (to 10 February 2000), North Rhine-Westphalia (to 1 January 2002), Hamburg (to 1 August 2006) and Bremen (to 1 August 2006). Drafts to laws of this kind are present in further Lands of the Federal Republic.
The Federal Government had planned in its coalition agreements of 1998 and 2002 likewise to create on federal level such a law. After this had failed in the first legislative period because of the resistance of some Ministries, the coalition parties had the draft for an information liberty law (BT-print 15/4493)] on 17 December 2004 brought into the Bundestag. On 3 June 2005 the Bundestag decided the law in second and third reading with the voices of the government coalition on abstention of the FDP and Party of Democratic Socialism. The Upper House of Parliament agreed the law on 8 July 2005. The information liberty law (IFG) of the federation was executed by the Federal President and announced on 13 September 2005 in the federal law gazette. The IFG stepped on 1 January 2006 into force.
Promoted in Switzerland with the public law (Federal law over the public of the administration, which on 17 December 2004 one discharged, the transparency of the administration, as each person the right is entitled, insight into documents of the federal authorities to take (public principle).
In Austria information transparency is regulated by the obligation to information law (Federal law over the obligation to information of the administration of the federation) from the year 1986.
To Sweden 1766 administrative transparency with the law over the Pressefreiheit was introduced and is a part of the Swedish condition. In Swedish Offentlighetsprincipen (the principle of the public) since that time one calls and is valid. It was the Finnish (Finland stood to the time under Swedish rule) clergyman and parliament delegate differently Chydenius, the right to entrance to documents "through-brought". This right was a reaction to the enormous secrecy and to the press censorship in the past time.
The "Offentlighetsprincip" means that all information and documents, which became to receive from an authority manufactured or for everyone must be made accessible.
After a five-year transition period the British Freedom OF information act came into force on 1 January 2005. Important source of information for the British situation are the sides of the Campaign for Freedom OF information. The Web log of Steve Wood (Lecturer to information management RK Liverpool John of moorland University) supplies also current information. In addition Commissioner (www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk) from national side is responsible to the information for the law.
In the United States OF information act (FOIA) exists since 1966 and in Canada since 1985 an information liberty law with the Freedom. Lately caught fire discussion in the USA particularly from the question, as as well as uninformativeness and national security can be able to be protected to be agreed upon like professional secrets effectively. Also a point of criticism emerging in the German discussion is the additional administration expense again and again - alone on federal level are busy in the USA over 5.000 officials with the treatment of FOIA requests; the costs amount to over 300 million US$.
World-wide more than 50 states decided information liberty laws.
Official secret, information monopoly, environmental information law, data security, administrative transparency, uninformativeness
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