The Cayman Islands first law allowing members of the public access to government records is expected to take effect in either January or February 2009.
‘We will try to implement within 18 months of the date of passage,’ said Freedom of Information Coordinator Carole Excell.
The Freedom of Information Bill will be taken up by the Legislative Assembly at its next meeting which is scheduled to start 31 August.
‘We were going to debate this bill and seek safe passage in this meeting (which ended Friday),’ Leader of Government Business Kurt Tibbetts said. ‘However, because of….amendments (to the bill), we want to give members sufficient time to peruse the bill properly.’
If the bill is passed at the LA’s next meeting, it would be just shy of two years since the first draft proposal was presented for discussion in November 2005.
Between the time the bill is passed and its implementation, a 16 member steering committee chaired by Ms Excell will direct government efforts to organise responses to public information requests.
Ms Excell said the committee and its sub-groups will not have an impact on proposals contained in the bill itself, although it will have some input on specific FOI regulations.
‘(The bill is) done at this point,’ she said. ‘The bill will say what you can release and what you can’t. The regulations will deal with things like the details of an information manager, what are the fees, how will we deal with publication of information.’
Steering committee and sub-committee meetings will not be open to the public. Ms Excell said in certain cases members of the private sector would be invited to attend and provide input.
The committee is made up of representatives from government ministries and portfolios, the National Archives Department, Computer Services, the Legal Department, Government Information Services, the Immigration Department, Sister Islands district administration, and Cayman Airways.
No members of the press or groups representing privately owned press organisations are part of the steering committee.
Certain agencies likely to receive frequent requests for information such as the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service, the Cayman Islands Fire Service, the courts system and Customs Department are also not part of the committee.
However, Ms Excell said special sub-committees may be developed in the future to address the particular needs of those agencies.
A website providing minutes of the steering committee meetings is being developed. The web address is www.foi.gov.ky. Questions about the proposed bill or the FOI process can be e-mailed to the government via the site.
‘We’re trying to be as open as possible,’ Ms Excell said.
The draft bill on the FOI website is the one tabled for discussion in 2005, not the current plan. A detailed analysis of the draft bill is also available.
The amended proposal will not be made public until it is officially tabled for discussion at the Assembly’s next meeting. However the general outline of the plan is not expected to be very different from what was put forth years ago.
The bill will establish a process by which any member of the public can request documents or records from the Cayman Islands government, a government-owned company, or statutory authority. It requires the government to respond to that request within a given time.
Certain requests related to national security, Cabinet documents, international relations, or items affecting the national economy will require information released to be restricted, or kept entirely secret.
An FOI Commissioner will be appointed to hear appeals in cases where government has refused to release information.
There will be a charge for Freedom of Information requests, but Mr. Tibbetts has previously said that charge could be waived in certain cases.
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