Agências governamentais do Canadá prometem mais agilidade na divulgação de dados públicos

O comissário de Informação canadense, Robert Marleau, conseguiu extrair das agências governamentais de seu país o compromisso de acelerar o processo de liberação de informações públicas, quando requisitadas.

Representante do parlamento, o comissário de Informação é responsável por supervisionar a implementação da lei de acesso à informação (Access to Information Act) por instituições públicas.

Marleau disse que a prática de algumas agências governamentais canadenses de classificar como "sensível" pedidos de acesso à informação com potencial de causar embaraços políticos pode levar a atrasos despropositados na liberação dos dados.

A decisão, que se deu após três anos de investigação, confirma uma queixa da Associação Canadense de Jornais. A associação alegou que regras secretas do governo de identificar solicitações de acesso como "sensível" ou "alerta amarelo" geravam atrasos injustificáveis na liberação de informações. Ela também afirmou que essa prática era dirigida principalmente a jornalistas.

Marleau, no entanto, disse que os repórteres não são os únicos atingidos e que não existe um sistema de regras governamentais disseminado que gere impedimento a solicitações de dados que possam ser politicamente sensíveis.

A investigação, que avaliou 21 instituições governamentais, encontrou pouca uniformidade na maneira como as agências classificam os pedidos de informação em "sensíveis". Também descobriu--se que 38,8% das solicitações de jornalistas são identificadas como "sensíveis", enquanto 54,1% dos pedidos de partidos políticos e parlamentares são identificados dessa maneira.

Leia a seguir a notícia veiculada pela International Transparency and Secrecy Research Network:

Information watchdog says flagging access requests can cause unfair delays
Canadian Press

OTTAWA — The practice in some government agencies of flagging potentially
embarrassing access to information requests as "sensitive" can lead to
unfair delays in releasing information, says Information Commissioner Robert
Marleau.

Marleau has extracted a promise from government institutions that they will
speed up the handling of such requests.

The ruling, which followed a three-year investigation, partly upholds a
complaint from the Canadian Newspaper Association.

The association claimed that secret government rules classed certain access
requests as "sensitive" or "of interest" or "amber light" and caused
unjustifiable delays in getting information. The group also said the
practice was principally aimed at journalists.

Marleau, however, said reporters aren´t singled out and there is no
government-wide system of rules that holds up requests that may be
politically touchy.

He said there are various reasons that flagging files can lead to delays.

In some cases, more people get involved in the file. In other cases,
government agencies notify their public relations people about access
requests and have them put together communications plans, which takes time
and can delay the release of information.

"There is nothing illegal or inherently wrong in government institutions
having a system of classifying access requests which they receive as
´sensitive´ and in producing communication products vis a vis these
requests," said the report, which was released Wednesday by the association.

He added, however: "We find that the system of labelling certain access
requests as "sensitive" does, in a number of government institutions, create
unfair and unjustifiable delays in the processing of those requests so
labelled."

The association hailed the ruling.

"This is a major victory in that the commissioner confirms there is a
serious problem in the way information that has the potential to embarrass
the government can be obstructed," said David Gollob, the association´s
senior vice-president for policy and communications.

"The Access to Information Act is a critical tool for investigative
journalists as well as parliamentarians, NGOs and others who seek to hold
government to account."

"But delay kills stories and frustrates journalistic inquiry."

Marleau urged the government to ensure that even if requests are sensitive
that they be handled as quickly as more mundane files. And he asked the
Treasury Board to monitor how access requests are handled.

The government has agreed, he said.

The investigation, which looked at 21 government institutions, found little
rhyme or reason to how some files get tagged as sensitive.

One small agency flagged every request that way. Others flagged none.

"There is no uniformity in how government institutions categorize and
process access requests."

Basically, he said, flagging a requests means more complex processing, more
people involved and, hence, delays.

The investigation found that while 38.8 per cent of requests from
journalists are flagged as sensitive, 54.1 per cent of requests from
political parties or parliamentarians are flagged.