Malta Independent boasts of invoking freedom law that is not yet into force
Claims of ‘first newspaper to invoke Freedom of Information Act’ deflated
Matthew Vella A boast by the Malta Independent on Sunday of having been “the first newspaper to invoke Malta’s freedom of information act” was deflated, because the newspaper did not – and cannot – file a request under the freedom of information law.
The reason is that the freedom of information law is not yet in force, and nobody can file requests for information that is denied by a public authority.
Three weeks ago, the Independent claimed on its front page that it had obtained copies of a deed for the lease of a government property in Siggiewi to the Labour Party, thanks to a freedom of information request.
The deeds relate to the various stages of rental of the Siggiewi property and the rental payments made by the PL.
Unbeknownst to journalist Stephen Calleja, information has to be refused by a public authority before a freedom of information request was made to the Information Commissioner.
Instead, the Independent was given the right to see the lease documents, after the Commissioner of Lands accepted the journalist’s simple request.
Information and Data Protection Commissioner Joseph Ebejer has confirmed that his office did not receive any request from the Independent on Sunday for the release of any information on the Siggiewi case, detailing the lease of a government property to the Labour Party in 1981.
Neither did Ebejer deal with a refusal by the Lands Department to provide information on the case. “The relevant legal provision in this regard is not yet in force,” Ebejer said, referring to Article 23: the clause that actually provides for applications for the release of information in case of prior refusal.
“When all the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act are brought into force, one of the functions of the Commissioner for Information and Data Protection will be that of deciding on applications for the release of information where the request is originally refused by a public authority,” Ebejer told MaltaToday.
Still to be enacted
Malta’s Freedom of Information Act will be brought fully into force by 2010. The phased approach is being adopted with a view to ensuring that public authorities are adequately prepared for its proper implementation.
As things stand, the law is at loggerheads with a Council of Europe convention on access to official documents. The Maltese law contains a clause that prohibits anyone who has not lived in Malta for more than five years to apply for an FOIA disclosure. This category of people can exclude non-Maltese residents, foreign journalists, asylum seekers and others from making freedom of information requests.
The discriminatory clause is at odds with the spirit of the Council of Europe’s convention, which states that state parties will guarantee the right of “everyone, without discrimination on any ground, to have access, on request, to official documents held by public authorities.”
Once the Council of Europe’s Convention is put into force – when it is ratified by 10 member states – a group of European specialists will review Malta’s Freedom of Information Act.
Twelve CoE member states have so far signed the Convention: Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Hungary, Lithuania, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia, Slovenia, Sweden and the FYR Macedonia.
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