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Cabinet okays landmark bill
Public access to official information
The UNF Cabinet this week approved a landmark bill that would give the Public access to official information, a longstanding demand of media groups in Sri Lanka.
In his cabinet paper on the Freedom of Information Bill, Justice and Law reform Minister W.J.M. Lokubandara states that transparency and accountability in governance are a principle to which the Government is committed and an important feature of the proposed legislation is to promote good governance and encourage the participation of citizens in the democratic process.

A high-powered team headed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Attorney General K.C. Kamalasabeyson, Justice Ministry Secretary Dhara Wijetillake, Legal Draftsman Therese Perera and Deputy Legal Draftsman Sriyangani Fernando was responsible for the drafting of this landmark bill together with representatives of the media.

The drafting team studied several existing FOI laws from around the world, the Commonwealth model law, the recommendations of the Law Commission and a draft law provided by the Editors Guild and the FMM.

A Freedom of Information Bill was one of the key elements in the 1998 Colombo Declaration on Press Freedom and Social Responsibility to which the Newspaper Society, the Editors Guild and the Free Media Movement were signatories.
The bill provides for;

* the right of any citizen to access official information in the custody and control of public authorities

* the circumstances and the types of information to which access shall be denied

* the appointment of Information Officers in each public authority and the establishment of a Freedom of Information Commission to hear appeals on information that is denied

* final appeal to the Supreme Court

* deliberate non-compliance with the law to be punishable with a fine

* the duty by public authorities to publicise high-value foreign-funded and locally-funded projects, and

* to exempt whistleblowers who divulge public information within the law from punishment

The Freedom of Information Act is to be presented in Parliament early next year, but will come into force only 12 months after passage through the House and the certification of the Speaker in a bid to afford adequate time for public authorities to take such preparatory steps as are required to comply with the obligations under the law.

This in effect is to train the Information Officers in their duties and to select members for the Freedom of Information Commission.

Among the areas that will be excluded from access are;

* where a decision of the Government is pending

* where an invasion of personal privacy is at issue, including medical records

* where there could be serious harm to the defence of the country, danger to life or safety of any person

* where trade secrets are involved

* causes serious prejudice to Sri Lanka's relations with foreign countries
However, an overriding Public Interest factor will prevail on some of these exemptions, and in any event there will be a ten-year rule that will negate some of these exemptions.

A far-reaching provision included in the proposed law is to protect "whistle-blowers" - or persons working in any public authority from disciplinary action for having disclosed any official information which is permitted to be disclosed under this law.
This safeguard operates notwithstanding any legal or other obligation to which he or she would be subject to by virtue of being an employee of that public authority.

This protection is provided, however, only if that employee acted in good faith and in the reasonable belief that the information was substantially true. Thus, restrictions in the Establishment Code regarding disclosure by persons not duly authorised to disclose such information will be over-ridden by this law.

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