| Ecuador: Integrity Scorecard Report > Sub-Category: Public Access to Information | ||
| Indicators | Score | |
| 12 | Do citizens have a legal right of access to information? | 100 |
| 13 | Is the right of access to information effective? | 55 |
Indicator and sub-Indicator Details
| 12 | 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. | ||||||||
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Comments: The National Constitution, in article 94, establishes that any person can access information; moreover if there is lack of attention the common citizen will be able to demand the corresponding compensation. Article 8 from Ley de Transparencia y Acceso a la Información Pública indicates that all public sector institutions must implement, according to their competences and budget, programs of diffusion and training, directed to public servants and to organizations of the civil society (OSC). The purpose is to guarantee a greater and better civic participation in the life of the State. References: National Constitution, Article 94 and 118 Law on Transparency and Access to Public Information, Articles 1 and 8
Peer Review Comments: The new FOI law has not been implemented or enforced.
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| 12b: In law, citizens have a right of appeal if access to a basic government record is denied. | ||||||||
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Comments: References: Article 94 clause 3 of the Contutstituion
Peer Review Comments: Few appeals have been attempted, and this right does not appear to be taken seriously.
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| 12c: In law, there is an established institutional mechanism through which citizens can request government records. | ||||||||
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Comments: Article 94 of the National Constitution guarantees to all persons the right to access documents and information. Article 19 from the Law on Transparency and Access to Public Information details the manner to access to the information.
References: National Constitution, Article 94 and 118 Law on Transparency and Access to Public Information, Articles 1 and 8
Peer Review Comments: In practice, this is not functioning because the new FOI law made the mistake of charging the Public Defender's Office with enforcing it, but did not finance the staff necessary to do so.
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| 13 | Is the right of access to information effective? | |||||||
| 13a: In practice, citizens receive responses to access to information requests within a reasonable time period. | ||||||||
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Comments: For a CSO it is easier to receive answers to the requested information. With regard to the common citizen, it is easier for a lawyer to receive answers than a common citizen. According to Ramiro Avila, the information required is generally given and without problems to institutions, maybe some exceptions in cases of environmental information, especially when the requests of the information is critical of that entity. This is a consequence of the lack of enforcement from Law on Transparency and Access to Public Information (LOTAIP -- Ley Orgánica de Transparencia y Acceso a la Información Pública LOTAIP).The LOATIP requires public Institution to put their information on their Web sites, but few institutions fulfill these requirements.
References: Ramiro Dávila citado en Informe Ecuador, Seguimiento de la Sociedad Civil a la implementación del Plan de Acción de Québec en Ecuador. Elaborado por (CLD) Corporación Latinoamericana de Desarrollo (2004).
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| 13b: In practice, citizens can use the access to information mechanism at a reasonable cost. | ||||||||
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Comments: There are not cases in which public information has a cost. These costs could be only the reproduction of the public information. Although the public information does not have cost explicitly , it is important to recognize that in order to access to certain information, the common citizen must insist constantly. It can require a lot of visits to the Public Institution. References: Informe Ecuador, Seguimiento de la Sociedad Civil a la implementación del Plan de Acción de Québec en Ecuador. Elaborado por (CLD) Corporación Latinoamericana de Desarrollo.
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| 13c: In practice, citizens can resolve appeals to access to information requests within a reasonable time period. | ||||||||
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Comments: The citizens can use an appealing mechanism, if the public information is denied. This mechanism is judicial process, one of them is to request information toward the Defensor del Pueblo (Public Defender) .
References: Interview with Iván Granda Defensoría del Pueblo (Public Defender)
Peer Review Comments: The time period, as reported by CSOs, is not usually reasonable.
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| 13d: In practice, citizens can resolve appeals to information requests at a reasonable cost. | ||||||||
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Comments: To resolve the appeals through the Defensoria del Pueblo (Public Defender), there is no cost. The problem is the lack of public defenders Ecuador has only 32 public defenders, it requires having at least 3.000 public defenders.
References: Interview with Iván Granda, Defensoría del Pueblo (Public Defender)
Peer Review Comments: The cost in time lost while waiting is excessive.
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| 13e: In practice, the government gives reasons for denying an information request. | ||||||||
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Comments: The Access to Public Information Law has a flaw because the reserved information is not specified. This flaw in the law, allows that the Public Institutions to deny any information, because it is considered like reserved.
References: Interview with Iván Granda, Defensoría del Pueblo (Public Defender)
Peer Review Comments: The definition of "reserved information" is vague and open to abuse.
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