- A Freedom of Information bill was approved by Lower House on February 16 and sent to the House of Councilors.
The bill contains the following points:
* The document has to be a document held by a government agency.
* Documents that are permitted to be revealed must be made available within a basic period of 30 days. The charges will be restricted to expenses. Legal issues will be presented to a district court, which is accountable to a high court.
* There are six topics exempt from the freedom of information act, including defense, foreign affairs and so on.
* The bill should be reconsidered in four years time.
- RENGO has long requested such a law, to clarify people's right to access to government information. RENGO would also like to see specialized agencies open their information, including information about individuals with limits to restricted personal information. RENGO also seeks an expansion of the legal system's capacity to hear challenges to the government. Charges should be applied only when the information is freed and inspection of the information should be gratis.
The Opposition party such as Democratic Party of Japan made an effort to improve this bill to increase the number of district high court to 8 which can handle the law action and settle the charge as reasonable as possible, and pass this bill. RENGO really applauds their effort.
- However, there this bill has some shortcomings:
* The proposed law does not spell out rights to govern people's basic rights to know, observe and participate in their government.
* The specifics of what information will be made open are not mentioned.
* The proposed law will apply to specialized agencies in two years time, but not immediately.
* An individual will not have access to the own personal, medical and educational information.
This bill will be debated in the House of Councilors. We request the House of Councilors address these deficiencies in the bill.
- Law of free of information is a very important system. People are entitled to information about their government and should be able to observe its workings. RENGO will follow the developments and procedures of this law closely, and monitor its success. Also, we will actively pursue our rights to learn about how the government influences the quality of people's lives. We also plan to work on municipal freedom of information bills, which have passed in only 20 percent of the nation's municipalities.
|
