The Freedom of Information Act (Cap.496) aims to establish a right to information held by public  authorities  in   order  to   further   promote  accountability  and   transparency  in Government.

 

In terms of Article 17(1) of the Freedom of Information Act, every relevant public authority shall publish information describing the authority’s structure, functions and responsibilities together with a general description of the categories of documents held and a description of all  manuals and  similar types of  documents which contain policies, principles, rules  or guidelines in accordance with which decisions or recommendations are made in respect of members of the public, as well as a statement of information that needs to be available to members of the public who wish to obtain access to official documents from the public authority.

 

The Freedom of Information Act came into force on 1st September 2012.

 

Eligible persons are entitled to submit Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to all established Public Authorities, including the Economic Policy Department, within the Ministry for Finance. The requests have to be in written format on prescribed forms and have to be delivered to an office of the Public Authority, either electronically – by email or through the portal – or manually (by hand or by post).