End of Commitment Report – Development of an Asturian digital legal library.

Name of Evaluator

MANUEL ANTONIO MUÑIZ PEREZ

Email

manumuni@uniovi.es

Member Name

Asturias, Spain

Action PlanAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen... Title

Action plan – Asturias, Spain, 2022 – 2023

CommitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action...

Development of an Asturian digital legal library.

Action

This commitment consists of the creation of an Asturian digital legal library that brings together consolidated regional legislationCreating and passing legislation is one of the most effective ways of ensuring open government reforms have long-lasting effects on government practices. Technical specifications: Act of creating or r... in force and makes it available to the public. The codes can be downloaded publicly and free of charge, in order to facilitate their storage and reading on different devices. The aim is to facilitate access to the compilation of regional laws and general decrees organ

Problem

The absence of a consolidated text containing the state and autonomous community regulations in force on a specific subject or aspect means that a person interested in it must carry out a search in the various state and autonomous community databases, with the consequent time and effort dedicated to the study and analysis of repealed or annulled regulations, until the updated version is obtained.Two types of difficulties can be identified:• Lack of search facility: need to consult different sources of information (national and regional)• Lack of access to consolidated texts: constant regulatory changes and reforms, as well as the distribution of competences in certain areas, turn legislation into a complex web of information, which requires certain knowledge and skills.

1.1 What was the overall level of progress in the commitment implementation at the time of this assessment?

complete

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The overall progress for this commitment has been satisfactory. The four-month implementation goal comprised two phases: the creation of the consolidated codes for the Asturian Law Library and its being placed on the internet, and once that task was completed, the creation of a communication plan to spread the word about the work that had been done.

Regarding the former, the task was completed in due time and form and was even enhanced with one more topic than originally planned (codes relating to water legislation). Regarding the publicity phase, the content and location of the library were subsequently communicated via email to the 72 regional professional associations, as well as the University of Oviedo and the Asturian Royal Academy of Jurisprudence (RAAJ). It was also advertised on the social networks of the regional government.

Likewise, on Monday 20 March, the Digital Law Library was presented at a meeting of the Open Administration Week organized by the Government of Asturias.

Provide evidence that supports and justifies your answer:

• Link to the Digital Asturian Law Library on the website of the Principality of Asturias.
• A search of the emails sent to publicize the Library among the professional associations, RAAJ, and the University of Oviedo.
• Link to the website with the schedule for the Open Administration Week.

1.2 Describe the main external or internal factors that impacted implementation of this commitment and how they were addressed (or not).

Regarding the internal factors that positively impacted the implementation of the commitment, of particular note was the smooth collaboration between the Forum representatives involved in the commitment (Mr. Leopoldo Tolivar from the Asturian Royal Academy of Jurisprudence and Ms. Eva María Menéndez from the University of Oviedo) and the specialists assigned to the commitment by the Government of the Principality of Asturias.
The monitoring team was able to confirm during multiple information collection instances that, in the case of both the Forum representatives and the specialists, the process of exchanging feedback and suggestions regarding content to be included in the Library and its format was at all times easy and streamlined. Consequently, the deadlines were easily met.

However, in terms of a factor that negatively impacted implementation, a contract was initially signed with a private company to create the codes. This initial collaboration with a private company should have facilitated meeting deadlines and contributed flexibility to the implementation. It had the opposite effect, however, with partial content deliveries that did not match the requirements and required subsequent correction. This ultimately resulted in canceling the collaboration and the tasks were taken on by specialized staff from the Government of the Principality of Asturias.

1.3 Was the commitment implemented as originally planned?

All of the commitment milestones were implemented as planned

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

All the fundamental milestones established for this commitment were fulfilled both regarding the creation of the Digital Library and its distribution.
We can also verify that minimal adjustments were made compared to the original plan regarding the specific content to be included in the Library. In this sense, the anticipated topics for inclusionOGP participating governments are working to create governments that truly serve all people. Commitments in this area may address persons with disabilities, women and girls, lesbian, gay, bisexual, tr... were expanded from four to five. On the other hand, the idea of dividing the newly created Library according to professional profiles was abandoned. This task promptly revealed itself to be far more demanding than initially expected for the tight deadlines for the current Plan, so it was set aside as a task for future expansions.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• Successive interviews with Ms. Bárbara Monteserín, specialist for the Principality of Asturias responsible for Commitment 1.
• A questionnaire was filled in by Mr. Leopoldo Tolivar, Forum representative for the Asturian Royal Academy of Jurisprudence and chair of the Forum TransparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More working group in the representation of Civil Society.
• A search of the various emails related to the initial collaboration with the private company hired.

2.1.1. – Did the government disclose more information; improve the quality of the information (new or existing); improve the value of the information; improve the channels to disclose or request information or improve accessibility to information?

Yes

Degree of result:

Major

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

The creation of a digital Asturian library where citizens can gain consolidated access to any and all legislation they may need for specific procedures or processes with the Administration is a clear example of the improvement in quality and access to information provided by an Open Government to its citizens. Rather than dedicating time and effort to searching a whole set of scattered regulations created by different legislative bodies, without knowing if they are consulting the most updated or superordinate version in the hierarchical order, citizens can now access this information in a simple and efficient manner. The result is the creation of a new, valuable, and more accessible source of information for citizens.

In a parallel manner, it is worth mentioning that the original location of the Library on the Principality of Asturias website, which had no direct link to it, made the content almost inaccessible to people who were unaware of its existence. However, we were able to confirm that the specialists have adopted this suggestion made by the monitoring team. Therefore, the Library is now easily accessed via the links related to Transparency, Participation, and Open DataBy opening up data and making it sharable and reusable, governments can enable informed debate, better decision making, and the development of innovative new services. Technical specifications: Polici... on the homepage of the Government of the Principality of Asturias. That said, improvements can still be made in order to notify citizens of the existence and availability of the Library within the first or second link to the clicked.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• Direct link to the digital Asturias law library on the website of the Principality of Asturias
• Path of links to follow to reach the link to the Library from the homepage of the Government of the Principality of Asturias (5 links must be clicked on before citizens are made aware of the existence of the Library): Asturias Webpage  – Transparency Website – Transparency categories – OGP Action Plan

2.1.2. – Did the government create new opportunities to seek feedback from citizens/enable participation inform or influence decisions; improve existing channels or spaces to seek feedback from citizens/enable participation/ inform or influence decisions; create or improve capabilities in the government or the public aimed to improve how the government seeks feedback from citizens/enables participation/ or allows for the public to inform or influence decisions?

Not Applicable

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

The only connection between this commitment and an improvement in potential interrelations and feedback with the Administration consists of the idea that citizens who are better informed in legislative matters can participate more easily, more freely, or more functionally in their interactions with the Administration.

Given the nature of this commitment, the essence of which is the creation of new information accessible to the citizen base, it is not centrally related to new channels (or improvements thereof) of interaction between civil society and the Public Administration, as per the question in this section.

2.1.3 Did the government create or improve channels, opportunities or capabilities to hold officials answerable to their actions?

Yes

Degree of result:

Major

Explanation: In narrative form, what has been the impact on people or practice.

A prerequisite for holding public authorities accountable for their activities is that citizens must be knowledgeable about the exact powers of the public authorities as well as the limits and regulations that must be met in the act of carrying out these powers.
Therefore, the result of giving citizens access to these regulations is greater legal security in their claims and accountability of the Government and, by extension, makes it easier for civil society to demand accountability for these responsibilities.
The only issue we can mention is that it is one thing for the information to be available and accessible on the internet, but it is another thing for citizens to actually be aware of this. Given the recent nature of the creation of the Library, there is no evidence yet of its real use, or lack thereof, by the citizen base.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• Successive interviews with Ms. Bárbara Monteserín, specialist for the Principality of Asturias responsible for Commitment 1.
• A questionnaire was filled in by Mr Leopoldo Tolivar, Forum representative for the Asturian Royal Academy of Jurisprudence and chair of the Forum Transparency working group in the representation of Civil Society.

2.1.4 Other Results

Not Applicable

2.2 Did the commitment address the public policy problem that it intended to address as described in the action plan?

Yes

Provide a brief explanation of your answer:

The problem described in the action plan was successfully resolved and involved providing a tool to facilitate citizen access to consolidated regulationGovernment reformers are developing regulations that enshrine values of transparency, participation, and accountability in government practices. Technical specifications: Act of creating or reforming ... that is organized by topic. This improves the possibility for interaction and accountability between civil society and open government.

Even so, a portion of the original description of the problem is pending improvement in upcoming extensions of the commitment, this being to make it easier for citizens to prepare for the various calls for public employment. To do this, the Library will need to be divided by professional profiles. It became evident that this demanding task would take longer than the four-month implementation period for the current Plan.

Likewise, as the evaluation team, we must mention that we have certified the completionImplementers must follow through on their commitments for them to achieve impact. For each commitment, OGP’s Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) evaluates the degree to which the activities outlin... of the tasks related to this Commitment. But, given its recent and immediate implementation, to date, there is no evidence of its use or final impact on society.

Provide evidence for your answer:

• Direct link to the digital Asturias law library on the website of the Principality of Asturias

3. Provide at least one lesson or reflection relating to the implementation of this commitment. It can be the identification of key barriers to implementation, an unexpected help/hindrance, recommendations for future commitments, or if the commitment should be taken forward to the next action plan.

Since the implementation of the current Plan was satisfactory, as stated by all the parties consulted, it is important to reflect globally on the lessons learned for potential future plans. Independently of this global reflection, the results of which will be detailed in a final shared report, the following independent reflections regarding this specific commitment can be made:

• As an unexpected obstacle, the unsatisfactory collaboration with a private company. Were it an annual or biannual plan this may not have been an issue and would have been quickly corrected. But given the tight deadlines, in this case, it had a negative effect, and the decision between outsourcing or assigning more specialized staff from the Public Administration may be reconsidered in the future.
• Considered the first initiative in this field, the Digital Library was not fully completed, though it is possible (and recommendable) that its contents continue to be updated and improved. To do this, it would be essential to create channels for civil society to make its own suggestions easily and in a streamlined manner.
• In the opinion of the monitoring team, the most important point for improvement, for this commitment and in general for the plan as a whole, involves creating truly effective mechanisms for involving civil society in the design and implementation of the action plan. Despite the fact that in the evaluated case it was possible to confirm the goodwill of the government and its attempts to promote the involvement of different social agents using a variety of tools, the results regarding participation achieved could be improved. Nevertheless, we recognize that it is a difficult problem since the incentives that governments may use for the participation of social agents that do not have a direct interest in government activity will have a limited scope in any case.