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Integrity Scorecard

2009 Assessment

Brazil: Integrity Indicators Scorecard

Brazil: Integrity Scorecard Report > Sub-Category: Public Access to Information
Indicators		Score
12	Do citizens have a legal right of access to information?	67
13	Is the right of access to information effective?	42

Indicator and sub-Indicator Details

Do citizens have a legal right of access to information?

12a: In law, citizens have a right of access to government information and basic government records.

Score:

YES

Comments: However, access to information is not regulated. The availability of information varies immensely, notably in the executive branch. The formulation of this group of questions does not adapt very well to the Brazilian situation.

From experience, the Brazilian state provides incomparably more information than most other countries, especially in the federal sphere. It is not difficult to get information on judicial processes, for instance. All data is public. Most problems regarding access to information in the executive branch is a result not from unwillingness to provide it, but from the fact that the information is not properly gathered.

Thus, indicators for government programs and actions are not available because they usually are not kept. Government decisions are always public (barring secret codicils in treaties, for example), but some decision processes are not. Overall, the scores given in this section will probably put Brazil in a bad light, when in fact it compares favorably with most countries. This is due to the way in which the questions are posed.

References: IN LAW: 1, Federal Constitution, Art. 5, item 33, [ LINK ]

12b: In law, citizens have a right of appeal if access to a basic government record is denied.

Score:

YES

Comments: Such a formal process for a right of appeal if access to a basic government record is denied stems directly form the Constitution. However, it takes time and money to do so, thus it is rarely used.

References: IN LAW: 1, Federal Constitution, art. 5, item 34a establishes the right, [ LINK ]

12c: In law, there is an established institutional mechanism through which citizens can request government records.

Score:

YES

Comments: However, there are certain laws (such as law 8.666/93, regulating public procurement) that specifically establish mechanisms for the access of data concerning public procurement.

There is also a law on "habeas data," which is an instrument to ask for one's personal data that is in the hands of the government: [ LINK ].

References: Access to information is not regulated.

Is the right of access to information effective?

13a: In practice, citizens receive responses to access to information requests within a reasonable time period.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: IN PRACTICE: Access to information is not regulated.

It depends on the institution. Generally, federal organizations either respond immediately or respond that the information does not exist. In states and municipalities, most simply do not respond.

The non-governmental organization Transparencia Brasil reports that only 6 out of 27 Legislative Houses in states responded to a request for information. See: [ LINK ]

13b: In practice, citizens can use the access to information mechanism at a reasonable cost.

Score:

100

Comments: If a citizen encounters resistance when trying to access information, getting hold of it might entail protracted legal proceedings, which are always very expensive. On the other hand, the access to information depends on what agreement is reached with the person who is responsible for the documents in each single institution. Sometimes, different branches of the same institution will have different procedures.

References: IN PRACTICE, Access to information is not regulated.

The only mechanism is the judiciary system, which is a very expensive way to most of Brazilians.

The major Brazilian newspaper, Folha de S.Paulo, went to court in order do have access to public documents concerning parliamentarians' spending.

See Folha de S.Paulo, Sept 17th, 2009: "Em ofício ao STF, Senado diz que notas fiscais guardam segurança nacional" ("Senate tells Supreme Court that official documents [on parliamentarians' spending] keep national security")

[ LINK ]

13c: In practice, responses to information requests are of high quality.

Score:

100

$Scoring Criteria :: 100 Score Criteria: Responses to information requests typically address the requestor\'s questions in full and are not redacted or edited to remove sensitive information. <p>50 Score Criteria: Information requests are sometimes met with sufficient responses, but responses to information requests may be vague or overly general when sensitive information is sought. <p>0 Score Criteria: The government rarely or never replies to information requests with meaningful responses. If and when responses are issued, they are so overly general or heavily redacted as to render them useless.$

Comments:

References: IN PRACTICE: Transparencia Brasil's assessment shows how difficult it can be to obtain data related to state parliamentary payments and shows the quality of the information provided. See: [ LINK ].

13d: In practice, citizens can resolve appeals to access to information requests within a reasonable time period.

Score:

100

References: IN PRACTICE: Access to information is not regulated.

There is no mechanism for appeals to access to information requests. Even a non-governmental organization (NGO), or a major newspaper, is not able access to public information (as mentioned in 13a and 13b). Thus, citizens without the support of an NGO or a media company will not be able to access the public data and will not be able to appeal, unless he or she goes to court.

13e: In practice, citizens can resolve appeals to information requests at a reasonable cost.

Score:

100

References: IN PRACTICE:- Access to information is not regulated.

13f: In practice, the government gives reasons for denying an information request.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: IN PRACTICE: Access to information is not regulated.