Constitutional Provisions, Laws and Regulations

Constitutional Provisions, Laws and Regulations relevant to the Right to Information

On this page are weblinks to constitutional provisions, laws and regulations which are relevant to the right to information. They are listed alphabetically by country.

For lists of countries and territories with ATI/FOI/RTI laws, and those that are considered likely to pass bills soon, compiled by Dutch FOI expert Roger Vleugels, click here.

Inclusion in the list on this page does not reflect any assessment that the cited provisions in law or fact guarantee or implement a right to information. Rather, this list is intended to be a reference tool and so aims to include all provisions that might be relevant to understanding the legal regime concerning access to information.

Conversely, the fact that a country does not appear on this list does not mean that it has no access to information laws, only that we do not have links to or copies of them.

We have included official websites where we have them, but many links are to unofficial websites which we are well aware often include outdated texts, bad translations and simply incorrect information (e.g., re: date of adoption).

We aim to include only links to official sources; failing that, we aim to include after every link an indication as to whether or not it is an official source. In the text below, the reader may assume that versions posted on government websites (of parliament, Constitutional Court, or other body) are official versions, and that versions posted on legislationline.org and other non-governmental sites are not official.

Ultimately, we aim to post the following information for every country that has a constitutional, statutory or significant regulatory provision addressing access to public information.

Constitution: date of adoption and entry into force (if different), numbers (or other designations) of articles that refer to access to information (including a right to, or freedom of, environmental, personal, or other information), links to both the original and the English versions (official sources).
ATI Law: the name of the law with dates of adoption and entry into force, in original language and English translation, with links to both, preferably to a consolidated version incorporating all amendments currently in force, and where not available, indication of lack of availability of a consolidated version. Most consolidated versions make reference to amendments, but if not, we will reference and link to these separately, especially where the amendment may be of interest to advocates in other countries.[1]
Implementing regulations in original and English translation, with links to both.[2]
State secrets laws.
Data protection laws.
Archives laws.
Environmental ATI laws.
Most relevant sectoral ATI laws (consumer-related issues, police records, commercial interests, etc).
Administrative procedure codes or rules, relevant provisions (e.g., concerning the filing of appeals or petitions).
Laws and regulations governing access to legislative information.
Laws and regulations governing access to judicial information.

We have included links to the laws of some territories and provinces under the heading of the national state to which the territory or province belongs. We will consider adding more such links over time.

We welcome better weblinks, corrected and updated information, and references to or hard copy versions of additional laws.

Please send us whatever corrections and additions you have.

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Constitutional Provisions, Laws and Regulations

Democratic Republic of Congo

Madagascar

Pakistan

Senegal

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