EarthTrends (http://earthtrends.wri.org) Searchable Database Results
Provided by the World Resources Institute (http://www.wri.org)
"Environmental Governance and Institutions -- Access to Information: Status of Freedom of Information Legislation"

"Units: Comprehensive FOI Legislation"

,,2004,
Country
"Albania","ALB",Law Enacted,
"Angola","AGO",Pending Effort,
"Argentina {1}","ARG",Pending Effort,
"Armenia {2}","ARM",Law Enacted,
"Australia","AUS",Law Enacted,
"Austria","AUT",Law Enacted,
"Azerbaijan","AZE",Pending Effort,
"Bangladesh","BGD",Pending Effort,
"Barbados","BRB",Pending Effort,
"Belgium","BEL",Law Enacted,
"Belize","BLZ",Law Enacted,
"Bermuda","BMU",Pending Effort,
"Bolivia","BOL",Pending Effort,
"Bosnia and Herzegovina","BIH",Law Enacted,
"Botswana","BWA",Pending Effort,
"Brazil","BRA",Pending Effort,
"British Virgin Islands","VGB",Pending Effort,
"Bulgaria","BGR",Law Enacted,
"Canada","CAN",Law Enacted,
"Chile","CHL",Pending Effort,
"Colombia","COL",Law Enacted,
"Croatia","HRV",Law Enacted,
"Czech Rep","CZE",Law Enacted,
"Denmark","DNK",Law Enacted,
"Dominican Rep","DOM",Pending Effort,
"Ecuador {3}","ECU",Law Enacted,
"El Salvador","SLV",Pending Effort,
"Estonia","EST",Law Enacted,
"Ethiopia","ETH",Pending Effort,
"Fiji","FJI",Pending Effort,
"Finland","FIN",Law Enacted,
"France","FRA",Law Enacted,
"Georgia","GEO",Law Enacted,
"Germany","DEU",Pending Effort,
"Ghana","GHA",Pending Effort,
"Greece","GRC",Law Enacted,
"Guatemala","GTM",Pending Effort,
"Honduras","HND",Pending Effort,
"Hungary","HUN",Law Enacted,
"Iceland","ISL",Law Enacted,
"India {4}","IND",Law Enacted,
"Indonesia","IDN",Pending Effort,
"Ireland","IRL",Law Enacted,
"Israel","ISR",Law Enacted,
"Italy","ITA",Law Enacted,
"Jamaica {5}","JAM",Law Enacted,
"Japan","JPN",Law Enacted,
"Kenya","KEN",Pending Effort,
"Korea, Rep","KOR",Law Enacted,
"Latvia","LVA",Law Enacted,
"Lesotho","LSO",Pending Effort,
"Liechtenstein","LIE",Law Enacted,
"Lithuania","LTU",Law Enacted,
"Macedonia, FYR","MKD",Pending Effort,
"Malawi","MWI",Pending Effort,
"Maldives","MDV",Pending Effort,
"Mauritius","MUS",Pending Effort,
"Mexico","MEX",Law Enacted,
"Moldova, Rep","MDA",Law Enacted,
"Mozambique","MOZ",Pending Effort,
"Namibia","NAM",Pending Effort,
"Nepal","NPL",Pending Effort,
"Netherlands","NLD",Law Enacted,
"New Zealand","NZL",Law Enacted,
"Nicaragua","NIC",Pending Effort,
"Nigeria","NGA",Pending Effort,
"Norway","NOR",Law Enacted,
"Pakistan {6}","PAK",Law Enacted,
"Panama","PAN",Law Enacted,
"Papua New Guinea","PNG",Pending Effort,
"Paraguay","PRY",Pending Effort,
"Peru","PER",Law Enacted,
"Philippines {7}","PHL",Pending Effort,
"Poland","POL",Law Enacted,
"Portugal","PRT",Law Enacted,
"Romania","ROU",Law Enacted,
"Russian Federation","RUS",Pending Effort,
"Serbia and Montenegro {8}","YUG",Pending Effort,
"Slovakia","SVK",Law Enacted,
"Slovenia","SVN",Law Enacted,
"South Africa","ZAF",Law Enacted,
"Spain","ESP",Law Enacted,
"Sri Lanka","LKA",Pending Effort,
"Sweden","SWE",Law Enacted,
"Switzerland","CHE",Pending Effort,
"Taiwan","TWN",Pending Effort,
"Tajikistan","TJK",Law Enacted,
"Tanzania","TZA",Pending Effort,
"Thailand","THA",Law Enacted,
"Trinidad and Tobago","TTO",Law Enacted,
"Turkey","TUR",Law Enacted,
"Uganda","UGA",Pending Effort,
"Ukraine","UKR",Law Enacted,
"United Kingdom {9}","GBR",Law Enacted,
"United States","USA",Law Enacted,
"Uruguay","URY",Pending Effort,
"Uzbekistan","UZB",Law Enacted,
"Zambia","ZMB",Pending Effort,
"Zimbabwe {10}","ZWE",Law Enacted,

Footnotes
"1 -- Argentina"
"executive order implementing FOI adopted 2003"

"2 -- Armenia"
"limited implementation"

"3 -- Ecuador"
"not yet implemented"

"4 -- India"
"not yet implemented"

"5 -- Jamaica"
"only partially implemented"

"6 -- Pakistan"
"not yet implemented"

"7 -- Philippines"
"extensive system of access using constitutional right"

"8 -- Serbia and Montenegro"
"Separate efforts are pending in both Serbia and Montenegro.  In addition, Kosovo has a comprehensive FOI Act implemented"

"9 -- United Kingdom"
"not yet implemented. Right to demand information goes into effect 1/05"

"10 -- Zimbabwe"
"FOI provisions in law are unused. Law primarily used to supress media."

Source
"Banisar, David.  2004. Freedom of Information and Access to Government Records Around the World. Available on-line at http://www.privacyinternational.org/issues/foia/foia-survey.html. Washington, DC: Privacy International. "
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Technical Notes
"Definition"
"Freedom of Information (FOI) laws require disclosure of government records to the public.  Access to information about government activities increases tranparency and allows citizens to more effectively combat corruption.  A country's guarantee of public access to information in classified in one of 3 categories:"
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"In Effect: Fifty-seven countries legally guarantee public access to government records through comprehensive FOI laws."
"Pending:  Thirty-nine additional countries are considering adopting freedom of information acts. "
"None:  Countries not listed have no pending freedom of information legislation."
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"Years Covered and Frequency of Update"
"Privacy International with author David Banisar have updated this data set annually since 2000.  The most recent update was in spring, 2004."
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"Methodology"
"Data are collected by Privacy International on a country-by-country basis.  The specifics of each country's legislation and constitutional guarantees are explained in detail in the source publications.  For a more complete description of the FOI status for each country, please refer to the Freedom of Information web site maintained by Privacy International at http://www.privacyinternational.org/issues/foia. "
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"Data Reliability"
"While the FOI data have been thoroughly researched, there are unavoidable difficulties in assigning each country to one of three categories.  Some countries have laws guaranteeing access, but the laws are not enforced.  Still others guarantee access to government documents in specific categories, excluding access in other categories.  A more thorough description of each country's policies is available at http://www.privacyinternational.org/issues/foia/foia-survey.html. "