News | Sunday, 28 June 2009

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Diluted ‘freedom’ in Malta’s information law

Freedom of Information Act discriminates and is at odds with new European Convention

Matthew Vella
Malta’s Freedom of Information Act, which has yet to come into force, is already at loggerheads with a Council of Europe convention on access to official documents.
The Convention is the first binding international legal instrument to recognise a general right of access to official documents held by public authorities.
The Maltese law, passed by parliament last year, contains a clause that prohibits anyone who has not lived in Malta for more than five years to apply for an FOIA disclosure.
It excludes non-Maltese residents, foreign journalists, asylum seekers and other people who have not lived on the island for more than five years from making freedom of information requests.
The highly discriminatory clause is at odds with the spirit of the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents. Article 2 of the Convention states that each state party will guarantee the right of “everyone, without discrimination on any ground, to have access, on request, to official documents held by public authorities.”
The discriminatory clause in Malta’s freedom of information act was pointed out by both the Journalists’ Committee and Labour MPs, who raised fears about the law’s restrictive features.
Labour MPs raised the issue during the committee stage of the FOIA bill but received no satisfactory replies from Lawrence Gonzi’s junior minister Mario Demarco, who was leading the bill.
“Anyone considered ineligible can get someone who is eligible – such as an MP – to apply for their request. I think it’s a happy medium,” he said.
The answer led to the Opposition asking what the point of such a definition was.
De Marco said: “you have to draw a line somewhere… we decided to tie it in with residence so that not everyone (has access)… Let’s be practical. You can get an MP to ask for the information.”
Malta’s law has yet to be enacted by legal notice, but once the Council of Europe’s Convention is put into force a group of European specialists will review Malta’s freedom of information Act.
The Convention will be in force once it is ratified (transposed into law) by 10 member states of the Council of Europe. Twelve member states have so far signed the Convention: Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Hungary, Lithuania, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden and the FYR Macedonia.

mvella@mediatoday.com.mt

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