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October 2020
OAS General Assembly approves Inter-American Model Law 2.0 on Access to Public Information
On October 21, at the
conclusion of its 50th regular session, the
OAS General Assembly approved the
Inter-American Model Law 2.0 on Access to Public
Information submitted by the
Inter-American Juridical Committee (CJI), the
Organization’s consultative organ for juridical
matters.
This adoption successfully marks the tenth
anniversary of the Inter-American Model Law of
2010.
The Model Law 2.0 was originated by a mandate in
2017 from the General Assembly, which requested
the Department of International Law (DIL), in
its capacity as Technical Secretariat of the
CJI, to identify thematic areas in which an
update or expansion of the 2010 Model Law was
deemed necessary, and to submit its findings to
the CJI.
The DIL undertook an intensive consultation
process with legislators, guarantor bodies,
civil society, scholars and other social actors
that included surveys, workshops and virtual
discussions, supported by the Red de
Transparencia y Acceso (RTA) a network of
guarantor bodies from across the region, as well
as EUROsociAL+, the European Union cooperation programme with Latin America. At the conclusion
of this process in May 2019, the DIL presented
the CJI with a consolidated document that
included all the text agreed upon by consensus
during the consultations. Subsequently, the DIL
prepared a revised proposal that included all
the comments and suggestions made by the CJI
members, which was ultimately approved at the
96th regular session of the CJI in March 2020.
The OAS’ Inter-American Model Law 2.0 on Access
to Public Information represents the latest
effort to advance in the establishment of
standards that allow for greater guarantees to
the citizens of the Hemisphere in light of the
new challenges, and the best practices that have
been developed in this field since the approval
of the first Inter-American Model Law on Access
to Public Information in 2010.
In this way, the OAS continues to promote access
to public information as a tool that helps to
increase the levels of transparency and the
effectiveness of the fight against corruption,
promotes open competition, investment and
economic growth, generates public trust in its
democratic institutions and empowers the people
- particularly those who are in situations of
vulnerability – by helping them gain an
understanding of the means available to them to
improve their standard of living and have better
opportunities to partake in the benefits of
economic growth.
It is important to highlight that throughout
this undertaking, the DIL has remained mindful
of the gender perspective, recognizing the
opportunity to propose provisions that make the
Model Law 2.0 one of the first legal instruments
of the Inter-American System to incorporate a
gender perspective by design.
In the following weeks, the DIL will begin to
broadly disseminate Model Law 2.0 as requested
by the resolution approved by the General
Assembly and will continue to support Member
States’ efforts in the adoption or reform of
legislation that guarantees access to public
information, taking this new instrument as a
reference.
» To view the Inter-American Model Law 2.0 on Access to Public Information,
click here (the official text of the resolution that approves the Model Law 2.0 will be distributed shortly by the Secretariat of the OAS Permanent Council).
» To visit the DIL’s web page on Access to Public Information,
click here.
For further information on this matter, please contact the Department of International Law of the Secretariat for Legal Affairs of the OAS +1 202 370-0741.
»
For additional information about the Department of International Law (DIL), please visit
our Website.
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