Scope of Bodies Covered

The scope of bodies covered by access to information (ATI) laws has been steadily increasing, with more recent laws applying to more bodies. The most progressive modern laws apply to government and administration at the national, regional or local level; all executive and administrative bodies (save for those expressly excepted, usually in a schedule to the law); all legislative and judicial bodies; state-owned (or otherwise controlled) companies, and private bodies that perform public functions or receive substantial government funding. The following sections discuss these categories, and demonstrate the trend towards greater inclusiveness, often offset to varying degrees by exceptions.

Recommendation: Including all public bodies and all private bodies that exercise public functions or receive substantial public funds within the scope of ATI laws, subject to carefully drawn exceptions, is preferable to exempting whole agencies because exceptions can be more narrowly tailored and can, and we contend should, be subject to a public interest override and harm test. For instance, there is no good reason why information about overall budgets and procurement processes for non-sensitive purchases, even of the intelligence and military services, should be exempted from public scrutiny and accountability. Several countries do indeed now require transparency concerning such information. See section on Intelligence and Security Agencies.