OGP Disclosure Policy

To request information please email info@opengovpartnership.org

DISCLOSURE POLICY:

OGP operates on a presumption of openness in all of its activities. This Policy applies to all information held by or on behalf of the OGP Support Unit, Steering Committee and sub-committees. OGP is to follow an approach to the interpretation of this Policy, which prefers any reasonable interpretation that gives effect to openness over an interpretation which favors secrecy.

Proactive Disclosure of Information: As part of its presumption of openness, OGP proactively makes available on-line an extensive set of information held by it, in significant detail and in original form. This information is made available, whenever possible, in open, user friendly, machine-readable formats. Everyone is free to use information generated by OGP, subject only to a Creative Commons 3.0 Unported License. This is universally known and accepted.

The information that is to be made available proactively includes:

Financial support:

• Donors: All financial contributors to the Open Government Partnership, which includes both Governments and Private Foundations.

·       Amounts: The full amount of funding received from donors on a disaggregated basis (donor by donor).

·       Timeframe: The grant period associated with each donor’s financial contribution.

·       Annual budget/expenses: The annual OGP budget—as approved by the OGP Finance and Audit Sub-Committee and larger Steering Committee—disaggregated by

category and type of expenditure.

Governance:

·       Governance Structure and Policies

·       Names, titles and affiliations of Steering Committee and Sub-Committee Members

·       Steering Committee meeting, Sub-Committee meeting and OGP Event dates: This

information is to be made available on the OGP website calendar as soon as it is

known.

·       Steering Committee meeting, Sub-Committee meeting and OGP Event agendas: This

information is to be made public in draft form at least two weeks prior to every OGP SC meeting and/or event whenever possible. A final agenda is to be posted immediately following the meeting.

·       Steering Committee meeting, Sub-Committee meeting and OGP Event participants: This information is to be made public in draft form at least two weeks prior to every OGP SC meeting and/or event whenever possible. A final participant list is posted immediately following the meeting.

·       Steering Committee meeting, Sub-Committee meeting and OGP Event minutes/summaries:This information is to be published within two weeks of the relevant meeting/event whenever possible.

·       Policies and Documents approved by the Steering Committee: This information will be published within two weeks of the relevant meeting/event whenever possible.

·       Tax filing of OGP’s fiscal sponsor: This information is to be made public immediately following the preparation and submission of tax documentation to U.S. Government each year.

·       Annual audit report: This information is to be made public immediately following the approval of the final audit report by the OGP Finance and Audit Sub-Committee and larger OGP Steering Committee each year.

Implementation and Related Activities:

·       Names of all OGP participating governments and associated letters of intent: This information is to be posted within one week of receiving the letter of intent from a new country.

·       Names, roles and contacts of all OGP partners (for example, the Networking Mechanism and the Independent Reporting Mechanism)

·       Government Self-Assessment Reports: Reports are to be made public for each country no later than 3 months after a full year of OGP implementation, with a common deadline date to be determined.

·       Independent Reporting Mechanism: Assessments are to be made public for each country no later than 3 months after a full year of OGP implementation, with a common deadline date to be determined.

Operations:

·       Names and titles of key staff

·       Vendors and costs for OGP projects: This information are to be made public on a

rolling basis, as the Tides Foundation signs contracts with vendors, no later than 30 days after the contract has been signed. The name and location of the vendor, a brief description of the project and the estimated/total cost is to be included.

Information:

·       A list of all of the records, including documents and datasets, held by OGP

·       Information released to any requester pursuant to a request

·       A log of all requests for information and responses

·       All comments provided in response to a call for feedback on draft policies or other

documents

Requests for Information: Everyone, including legal entities, may make a request for information from the OGP. Information requests may be made via the online contact form, by mail, or via email (info@opengovpartnership.org).  They are handled by the OGP Support Unit Director unless directed to another individual, in which case they are to be forwarded to him or her as appropriate. Requests need only describe the information sought with enough specificity that staff can reasonably identify that information, and provide a return address for provision of the information (which may be an email). The public is free to lodge information requests, and requesters are to be provided with a prompt receipt and unique reference number upon lodging a request.

Where a requester is having difficulty lodging a request for any reason (such as disability or illiteracy), or where a request fails to describe the information sought in sufficient detail, OGP is to provide reasonable assistance to that requester.

Requests may be for information and/or specific records. OGP does not commit to collecting information to respond to a request, but it plans to make all reasonable efforts to collate information from records it does hold, subject only to workload constraints (i.e. where this would unreasonably interfere with the ability of the organization to carry out its core functions).

Requests are to be responded to as soon as possible and in any case within ten working days. Where information is to be provided, requesters may specify any format in which they would like to receive the information and OGP intends to, so far as this is reasonable, provide the information in that format. No charges are made for information provided electronically, for the first 100 pages of photocopying, where the request is in the public interest or where the requester can demonstrate difficulty in paying for the information. For photocopies beyond the first 100 pages, a fee of 3¢/page is to be charged, provided that this fee is to be waived where the cost of collection exceeds the fee or where there are problems making payments (for example due to the banking situation).

Requesters are free to use information released to them by OGP which was created by OGP, subject only to the constraints set out in the Creative Commons 3.0 Unported License.

Feedback on Draft Policies: OGP intends to actively seek public feedback on draft policies that relate to the overall practices of the initiative (such as this OGP Information Disclosure Policy). These policies are to be published online and whenever possible (resources allowing) in relevant languages with due notice and a minimum of 30 days for the public to comment. All comments are to be made public, along with the final version of any document under public consultation.

For any draft documents that are submitted to the Steering Committee for discussion and approval but not subject to prior public consultation (for example internal governance protocols for the OGP Steering Committee), the final document is to be published promptly on the OGP website.

Exceptions to Full Disclosure: The OGP is committed to having a fully transparent and proactive disclosure system. However, certain information may be considered confidential and not available to the public, but only for such period of time as one of the following exceptions applies:

• Information received by OGP from a third party on a confidential basis, the disclosure of which would, or would be likely to, cause serious harm to a legitimate interest of that third party (such as a commercial or security interest);
• Information which if disclosed would do identifiable harm to the safety or security of an individual, or violate his or her right to privacy;

• Information which, if disclosed, would demonstrably inhibit free and frank policy dialogue internally or with governments, donors, communities or partners;
• Information which is privileged from production in legal proceedings (legally privileged information);

• Pre-decisional policy documents the disclosure of which would seriously frustrate the success of that policy.

These exceptions, apart from the second exception, are to no longer apply after five years. In exceptional cases, where specific and persuasive reasons for this are adduced, information may remain confidential beyond this five-year period. Where the overall public interest in disclosure is greater than the risk of harm to the interests protected by the exceptions, OGP intends to disclose the information.

Where only part of a record is covered by an exception, the rest of the record, to the extent that it may reasonably be severed from the remainder, is to be made available.

In the rare cases where OGP is unable to satisfy an information request, it should, within the time limits for responding to requests set out above, provide a clear justification as to why it is unable to provide information, referring to the specific exception relied upon, along with information about appealing against that refusal.

OGP may refuse repetitive or vexatious requests.

Appeals: Anyone who believes that the terms of this Policy have not been respected, including where access to information is refused in response to a request, may lodge an appeal with the full Steering Committee, within 30 days of the act giving rise to the appeal. The Steering Committee is to decide such appeals within 30 days, giving the complainant an opportunity to be heard, provided that appeals that are clearly groundless may be disposed of in a summary fashion.

The Steering Committee is to appoint a respected panel of three external experts to hear appeals against adverse decisions by the Steering Committee. Such appeals are to be lodged within 30 days and the panel is to decide them within 45 days following this.

Languages: While OGP recognizes the necessity of using multiple languages to support full participation in a multi-lateral initiative, due to the limitations of start-up, staffing and funding, the public OGP website uses English as its primary language in the near term. Key documents are to be published in this language and whenever possible the Support Unit intends to also translate key documents into Portuguese, French, and Spanish. OGP also encourages participating governments and like-minded organizations to undertake translations of OGP materials to be shared on the OGP website with appropriate credits and disclaimers.

Promotional Measures: The OGP intends to incorporate performance in terms of applying this Policy into all of its staff and management appraisal systems. It also commits to not imposing punishments or sanctions on staff that release information either in good faith pursuant to the Policy or in the reasonable belief that the information exposes wrongdoing.

The OGP Support Unit Director, or another dedicated officer, is to be responsible for ensuring proper implementation of this Policy, including that proactive publications commitments are met and that requests are processed in accordance with its terms.

OGP is to produce an annual report, which is to include an update on the implementation of this Policy. This update is to outline the efforts OGP has made in the areas of proactive disclosure and responding to requests (including any statistical information about requests, such as how many have been lodged, how they have been responded to and so on) and describe any challenges faced.