Right to Information (TN0036)

Strengthen the right of access to information
Beginning of October 2018 – End of August 2020
Lead implementing agency/actor
- Access to Information Authority.
- General directorate of reforms and prospective administrative
studies at the Presidency of the Government.
- National Agency for computer Security.
Commitment description
Enforcing the right of access to information according the organic law provisions on the right of access to informa- tion requires several practical procedures within the administration in order to instill a new culture based on open- ness and information sharing. Therefore, this commitment aims to outline a number of procedures aimed at manag- ing the change brought up by the implementation of the access to information law through implementing the follow- ing actions:
- Setting up guidelines on access to information for civil servants and public institutions and all entities governed by the provisions of the organic law No. 22, as well as for the benefit of citizens and civil society organizations;
- Establishing a coordination working group between the Access to Information Authority and civil society,which will coordinate the shared actions and activities in the area of applying the right of access to information;
- Capacity building on access to information through the establishment of training programs that will be implemented throughout the whole action plan and will include various categories of civil servants and public institutions subject to the related law;
- Preparing a draft assessment report for Tunisia regarding the implementation of the Goal No. 16.10.2 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on the promotion of access to information in Tunisia.
- Establishing common rules for the classification of administrative data.
Problem/Background
Limited culture of openness, information sharing and dissemination within the administration as well as the weak knowledge of the related law which led in turn to limit proactive information dissemination, in addition to problems faced regarding responding to access to information requests within deadlines and according to quality standards
Expected results
Enhance transparency and apply the right of access to information as follows:
• Raise awareness among officials within all public institutions on the
importance of engaging with this transparency process and proving
access to information and its expected positive benefits;
• Capacity building for civil servants, especially those in charge of
access to information and other actors involved in the process of responding to access requests, by providing the necessary skills to enable them to carry out their duties properly.
How will the commitment contribute to solve the public problem?
- Anchoring a new culture within the administration based on openess and cooperation principles;
- Existence of competencies within the administration able to execute the related law to apply the right of access to information.
Relevance with OGP values
Transparency: this commitment will enable more information dissemina- tion, improve the quality of the access to information process, and assist the work of those in charge of access to information, whether through facilitating their relationship with information producers within their institutions, or with the information seeker.
Source of funding/
Relation with other programs and policies
- Source of funding: World Bank/Organization for Economic Cooper- ation and Development (OECD)/UNESCO/Frensh development agency (AFD) Steps and execution agenda
Beginning of October 2018
End of October 2018
Contact Information
Name of the responsible person from implementing agency
1. Mr. Imed Hazgui
2. Mrs. Olfa Souli
3. Mr. Naoufel Frikha
Title and Department
1. President of the Access to information Authority
2. General Manager of the Directorate of reforms and prospective
administrative studies,
3. General Manager of the National Agency of Cybersecurity
E-mail address
1. Imed.hazgui.ih@gmail.com
2. Olfa.souli@pm.gov.tn
3. naoufel.frikha@ansi.tn

Other Actors involved
State actors involved
CSOs, private sector, multilaterals, working groups
- Democracy Reporting International “DRI”;
- Tunisian Association of Public Auditors,
- Article 19 organization;
- Tunisian Association of Local

1. Strengthen the right of access to information

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

“Enforcing the right of access to information according the organic law provisions on the right of access to information requires several practical procedures within the administration in order to instill a new culture based on openness and information sharing. Therefore, this commitment aims to outline a number of procedures aimed at managing the change brought up by the implementation of the access to information law through implementing the following actions:”

Milestones:

• Setting up guidelines on access to information for civil servants and public institutions and all entities governed by the provisions of the organic law No. 22, as well as for the benefit of citizens and civil society organizations;
• Establishing a coordination working group between the Access to Information Authority and civil society, which will coordinate the shared actions and activities in the area of applying the right of access to information;
• Capacity building on access to information through the establishment of training programs that will be implemented throughout the whole action plan and will include various categories of civil servants and public institutions subject to the related law;
• Preparing a draft assessment report for Tunisia regarding the implementation of the Goal No. 16.10.2 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on the promotion of access to information in Tunisia;
• Establishing common rules for the classification of administrative data.

Responsible institution: Access to Information Authority, General directorate of reforms and prospective administrative studies at the Presidency of the Government, National Agency for computer Security

Supporting institution(s): Democracy Reporting International “DRI”, Tunisian Association of Public Auditors, Article 19 organization,             Tunisian Association of Local Governance.

Start date: October 2018                                          End date: August 2020

Editorial Note: This is a partial version of the commitment text. For the full commitment text from the Tunisia national action plan, see here.

Context and Objectives

This commitment continues the Tunisian government’s efforts to strengthen enforcement of the right to access information, as formulated in Law No. 2016-22. This law was passed in March 2016, ^[1] and the Authority of Access to Information (INAI), an independent commission, was subsequently established to oversee compliance. ^[2] Following Commitment 2 of the previous action plan, the government published complementary regulations in May 2018, translating the law from complex legal language into technical administrative language. ^[3] Despite these efforts, several obstacles posed significant challenge to implementation of the law. ^[4] For example, in January 2017, Prime Minister Yousef Chahed faced criticism over a circular that prescribed all civil servants (except media spokespersons) to request permission from their superiors before sharing information with journalists. ^[5]

This commitment includes five milestones. The first milestone plans to establish a guideline on access to information for civil servants, public institutions, and all entities governed by the law. According to Judge Issam Sghaier, responsible for the guideline’s development, it “is a practical guide on the procedures for filing the request for access, the guidelines for drafting the request, the deadlines for processing the request, and the deadlines for filing an appeal against administrations.” ^[6] The second milestone intends to form an Access to Information Authority and civil society coordination working group for shared actions on access to information. The third milestone entails capacity building on the law for civil servants and public institutions. The fourth milestone aims to prepare a draft assessment report for the implementation of SDG 16.10.2, which relates to promotion of the access to information law. The final milestone covers establishment of common rules for the classification of administrative data. Despite some ambiguities in the scope and coverage of some milestones, they are specific enough to be verifiable.

This commitment is relevant to the OGP value of access to information because it aims to facilitate implementation of the law on access to information by providing guidelines and capacity building for civil servants. The commitment is also relevant to the OGP value of civic participation, since the coordination working group intends to include civil society in shared actions on access to information.

This commitment could represent a positive step on improving access to information. The milestone on data classification may ameliorate certain technical and management challenges, as the government did not previously have a standardized security and data classification protocol. ^[7] The training for public officials may contribute to a shift in perspective, ^[8] responding to cultural issues with compliance. Achref Aouadi, President of I-Watch, reported: “Some public administration officials still see requests of access to information as an offense, in their minds.” ^[9] However, the commitment’s potential impact is limited by a number of shortcomings. The commitment does not specify how many public officials will be trained or the content of the training. The commitment does not describe enforcement measures for the guidelines, common rules, and reports, which could undercut their ability to guide government practices. Also, although engaging CSOs in the coordination working group would be a positive step, the milestone does not specify how shared actions would be implemented. Overall, the milestones lack sufficient measures to materialize execution of Law No. 2016-22.

Next steps

The IRM recommends that this commitment is carried forward in future action plans, with the following measures to maximize impact:

• Develop clear guidelines for involvement of CSOs in the coordination group (i.e., frequency of the meetings and members invited), and make meeting minutes publicly available, so that citizens can monitor its activities.
• Strengthen INAI’s authority to ensure executive agencies’ robust compliance with Law No. 2016-22. This would address INAI’s lack of enforcement power, improving current issues with executive bodies’ non-compliance that persist even after orders from INAI and administrative courts. ^[10]
• Building on this commitment’s capacity building for civil servants on implementation of Law No. 2016-22, include milestones focusing on public access to information and measures for facilitating this process for citizens.
• Address important challenges to implementation of Law No. 2016-22, such as lack of effective grievance mechanism and enforcement of sanctions/penalties for its violations.

1. Strengthen the right of access to information

Substantial:

The Access to Information Authority (INAI) prepared and published a guide for public officials, [1] as well as a short guide for citizens, [2] which was drafted along with the CSO, Article 19. The INAI did not establish a coordination working group with civil society. However, Ahmed Ben Taârit, program director of access to information at I-Watch, [3] believes that the INAI is making significant efforts in collaborating with CSOs like I-Watch [4] on common projects, memoranda of understanding, and other tasks.

Implementation of the third milestone is limited. The government organized two workshops for public institutions and CSOs on 27 March 2019 to present the survey that will be used to collect data for drafting the assessment on implementing SDG goal 16.10.2 (promoting access to information in Tunisia). [5] In early 2021, the government [6] and the French public agency, Expertise France, launched a call for applications for a consultant to organize and draft the SDG assessment. [7] INAI, in collaboration with the General Directorate of Reform, the World Bank, and Article 19, held seven training sessions on access to information from different institutions between September 2018 and May 2019 [8] for around 200 officials. [9] The National Agency for Computer Security substantially completed the fifth milestone by drafting and proposing a national common reference for classifying administrative data. The draft decree adopting the classification was introduced in the Presidency of the government, but the Presidency has not yet adopted it. [10]