Open Data in the Ministry of Justice (BR0077)

to standardize open government data with the aim of handling and connecting information, which shall increase the possibilities of its use by citizens. The disclosure of government data in an open format provides for the development and monitoring of indicators for transparency in public policies. Furthermore, it fosters the development of solutions and applications for managing and analyzing open data to be used by civil society organizations, research institutions and IT companies in the private sector.

Commitment 3.9. Open Data in the Ministry of Justice

Commitment Text: To standardize open government data with the aim of handling and connecting information, which shall increase the possibilities of its use by citizens. The disclosure of government data in an open format provides for the development and monitoring of indicators for transparency in public policies. Furthermore, it fosters the development of solutions and applications for managing and analyzing open data to be used by civil society organizations, research institutions and IT companies in the private sector.

Responsible institution: Ministry of Justice

Supporting institution: None

Start date: Not specified                          End date: 13 December 2013

Commitment aim

The commitment aimed to standardise the Ministry of Justice’s open data. This was to improve transparency indicators for public policies, and to encourage the development of tools for civil society and the private sector to monitor and analyse data.

Status

Midterm: Completed

The Ministry of Justice published data, ran hackathons, and publicised an Institutional Open Data Plan (PDAE) that encompassed strategic and tactical questions of an open data culture. The plan included all open data activities run by the ministry, and defined in detail the open data standards adopted, those parties responsible for updating and maintaining the data, and next steps to further open data.

Did it open government?

Access to information: Marginal

Civic participation: Marginal

Public accountability: Did not change

The commitment resulted in improved standards for Ministry of Justice data and events to foster data consumption and use for public accountability. The Ministry of Justice was the first government agency to publish an open data plan. The plan, which was published in 2014, sets guidelines for improving the quality of public datasets, and proposes activities such as releasing justice and geospatial data, training public servants, and hosting data workshops and competitions. Because the plan is supervised by the Ministry of Planning, which is responsible for open data standards in the country, the level of detail and technical accuracy is considerably high. Eleven datasets are open to the public; at least two were made available and the others updated during the action plan period. The datasets, which revolve around consumer protections, complaints, and traffic accidents, among others topics, are of major importance, but refer to a practice already well-established before the action plan. As a result, they constitute only a marginal improvement in access to information.

In relation to civic participation, the Ministry of Justice held the Second Open Data Application Competition. This was a continuation of an activity that predated the action plan, but it did result in new data visualisation tools for data on traffic accidents and fines, according to the government’s self-assessment. The commitment also used public consultation tools (e.g., Participa.br), though civil society participation was low.^{[Note 111: Participa.br, “Plan de dados abertos e espaciais do Ministério da Justiça,” 15 April 2014, http://bit.ly/2nbLLMQ. ]} It is worth mentioning, however, the partnership established with The Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br) — a key multi-stakeholder institution in Brazil responsible for Internet governance — and with key CSOs in the field, such as Open Knowledge Foundation and W3C Brasil.

There were no activities that explicitly improved public accountability channels. As a result, there was no change in the status quo as it relates to this OGP value.

Carried forward?

Though this specific commitment was not carried forward to Brazil’s third action plan, the latter does include a commitment to disclose open data on the penitentiary system. If this particular commitment is carried forward eventually, the IRM researcher suggests increasing accessibility and creating data visualisation tools.