FreedomInfo.org - Update, May 3, 2013 Hungary:<http://www.freedominfo.org/2013/05/hungary-restricts-foi-law-ogp-membership-questioned/> Parliament whisks through amendments restricting the FOI law. The changes are criticized and Hungary's commitment to the OGP is questioned. http://www.freedominfo.org/2013/05/hungary-restricts-foi-law-ogp-membership-questioned/ United States:<http://www.freedominfo.org/2013/04/u-s-supreme-court-allows-state-to-limit-use-of-foia/> The Supreme Court upholds a state prohibition barring nonresidents from using the state FOI law. Also see guide to nine other state's similar limitations. http://www.freedominfo.org/2013/04/u-s-supreme-court-allows-state-to-limit-use-of-foia/ Liberia:<http://www.freedominfo.org/2013/05/thwarted-liberian-group-seeks-asset-disclosures/> An NGO seeking the asset disclosure forms of officials goes to the Supreme Court after receiving no help from the anti-corruption commission or the information commissioner. http://www.freedominfo.org/2013/05/thwarted-liberian-group-seeks-asset-disclosures/ India:<http://www.freedominfo.org/2013/05/india-close-to-choosing-who-will-do-study-of-rti-law/> Sixteen finalists are selected to conduct a 360 degree study of the RTI law. http://www.freedominfo.org/2013/05/india-close-to-choosing-who-will-do-study-of-rti-law/ FOI Notes:<http://www.freedominfo.org/2013/05/foi-notes-education-asset-disclosure-procurement/> Education, Procurement, Asset Disclosure, Bad Actors http://www.freedominfo.org/2013/05/foi-notes-education-asset-disclosure-procurement/ Read more at http://www.FreedomInfo.org<http://www.freedominfo.org/> EVENTS CALENDAR: New postings from the Carter Center. For more details, a full list of upcoming events and to submit entries visit the Carter Center calendar page: http://www.cartercenter.org/peace/americas/access_to_information/calendar.html
ABRE Latam; June 24-25, 2013; Montevideo, Uruguay 4th Annual Access to Information and Privacy Law Symposium: Competing Interests; October 27-28, 2013; Ottawa, ON, Canada Second Meeting of the Task Force on Access to Information under the Aarhus Convention; December 16-17, 2013; Geneva, Switzerland Open Government Partnership Annual Conference; October 31-November 1, 2013; London, UK OGP Africa Regional Meeting; May 28-30, 2013; Nairobi, Kenya Anticorrp 2nd General Meeting; May 7-10, 2013; Florence, Italy Call for papers: Panel "And now they kill us All. The Challenges of Mobilizations against Corruption and Organized Crime"; Deadline May 15, 2013. NEW FEATURE! Case Summaries from Right2INFO: The following decisions have been added to the searchable database<http://www.right2info.org/cases> of case summaries, plus full text, created by Right2INFO<http://www.right2info.org/>, a website of the Open Society Justice Initiative. South Africa - information from private bodies - Clutchco (Pty) Ltd V. Davis<http://www.right2info.org/cases/plomino_documents/r2i-clutchco-pty-ltd-v.-davis> (March 2005) - Constitution and ATI Act allow for access to information held by private parties when reasonably required; the petitioner shareholder's need for corporate documents was insufficiently pressing in this case. India - asset declarations - The CPIO, Supreme Court of India v. Subhash Chandra Agarwal & Anr<http://www.right2info.org/cases/plomino_documents/r2i-the-cpio-supreme-court-of-india-v.-subhash-chandra-agarwal-anr>. (September 2009) - Asset declarations of Supreme Court judges should be disclosed if there is public interest in disclosure; where the interest is shown, the authority should consult the judge concerned and balance the interest in disclosure against privacy concerns. Canada - third parties, commercial confidentiality - H.J. Heinz Co. of Canada Ltd. v. Canada (Attorney General)<http://www.right2info.org/cases/plomino_documents/r2i-h.j.-heinz-co.-of-canada-ltd.-v.-canada-attorney-general> (April 2006) - Third parties who apply for judicial review of a decision to disclose information under section 44 of the Access to Information Act may rely on the section 19 privacy exemption, and are not limited to the section 20 confidential business information exemption. Measuring Openness: A FreedomInfo.org resource List with entries about comprehensive efforts to compare the transparency of nations and organizations on a variety of transparency-related topics. http://www.freedominfo.org/measuring-openess/ Blog Roll: Visit the FreedomInfo.org Blog Roll at http://www.freedominfo.org/about-us/foia-blog-roll/ 94: Counting Countries with FOI regimes http://www.freedominfo.org/regions/global/foi-regimes/ OGP: Read all FreedomInfo.org articles about the OGP at http://www.freedominfo.org/regions/global/ogp/ Follow us on Twitter! http://twitter.com/freedominfoorg _______________________________________________________________ FreedomInfo.org is a one-stop portal that describes best practices, consolidates lessons learned, explains campaign strategies and tactics, and links the efforts of freedom of information advocates around the world. It contains crucial information on freedom of information laws and how they were drafted and implemented, including how various provisions have worked in practice.
