The UK Government announced it will release new data about public services – including where British aid money is spent – on the official data website data.gov.uk. Commenting on the Department for International Development (DfID) aid data, Publish What You Fund’s David Hall-Matthews, said: “DfID continues to take a lead on aid transparency – not only in […]
Private corporations around the world are benefiting from undue levels of secrecy around company registers making it impossible for the public to know how businesses are structured and who really owns them, according to a new report released this week by the organisation OpenCorporates. OpenCorporates’ report, “The Closed World of Company Data” finds that of 55 countries surveyed, […]
A coalition of Civil Society Organisations have produced a collaborative analysis of the UK National Action Plan and wider open government policy environment. All countries subscribing to the Open Government Partnership have to submit a National Action Plan (NAP) based on the principles of open government that are articulated in the OGP Declaration. Organisations contributing to […]
A report released recently by the Centre for Law and Democracy argues that disclosure policies of international financial institutions (IFIs) have forever lagged behind that of national public bodies, and that this should no longer be the case. Referring in particular to exemptions to the right to information on the grounds of protecting commercial interests, […]
The General Court of the European Union ruled on Tuesday that the EU Council must make countries’ positions on the EU’s access to documents reform available to citizens. The case was brought forward by access to information campaign, Access Info Europe. Executive Director of the campaign, Helen Darbishire, said “Public debate is essential before legislation […]
A debate has ensued online after Till Brucker’s guest post on the Aid Watch blog on NGO transparency in Georgia. After having asked USAID to release budget details of NGOs operating in Georgia, he was sent the information (18 months later) with varying costs and totals blacked out.
