e-Access and Expansion (NO0056)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: Norway Action Plan 2019-2021
Action Plan Cycle: 2019
Status: Active
Institutions
Lead Institution: Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation/ ITPOL/Live Heltberg
Support Institution(s): Organizations of the press
Policy Areas
Access to Information, Right to InformationIRM Review
IRM Report: Norway Design Report 2019-2021
Starred: Pending IRM Review
Early Results: Pending IRM Review
Design i
Verifiable: Yes
Relevant to OGP Values: Access to Information
Implementation i
Completion: Pending IRM Review
Description
E-access and potential expansion of e-access in the municipal sector The commitment has been included in supplementary letter of award no. 5, 2018 for Difi. No time limit has been defined for the work. Reporting will follow the ordinary reporting routines for tasks assigned in a letter of award. Responsible body Agency for Public Management and eGovernment (Difi) The Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation is requesting Difi to conduct a survey of the potential for expansion of the e-access solution in the municipal sector. Many municipalities already use online solutions for publication of their electronic journals. The survey should be able to provide an overview of which municipalities currently have alternative solutions for publication and access and those which do not have any such solutions at all. The survey should be able to comment on the prerequisites of the municipalities to implement the common solution and the administrative and economic consequences of such use, both for the owners of the solution and for the individual municipalities. What problem for the general public is the commitment aimed to solve? We have no overview of how the right of access is safeguarded in the municipal sector. There is no re-quirement either for the publication of public journals in the municipal sector. Difi and the City of Oslo have, through the new access solution, e-access, made provisions so that the municipalities who would like to facilitate access can adopt the solution if they wish. Many municipalities have their own online solutions for the publication of electronic journals. Some of them do not have any digital access solutions at all. We do not currently know the number of municipalities that fall into each category. We do not know what administrative processing and archiving system is being used. Knowledge of this would provide a better basis for clarifying the prerequisites for municipalities that do not have access solutions being able to adopt e-access. 22 What is the commitment? Survey the potential for expansion of the e-access solution in the municipal sector. How will the commitment contribute to solving the problem? The survey results will not contribute to solving the problem, but they will give the Ministry a better basis for determining how expansion of e-access in the municipal sector should be organised, with a view to increasing the number of municipalities that have access solutions. How is this commitment relevant to the OGP’s fundamental values? The commitment can contribute to improving the availability of public documents. Additional information Currently, the only binding regulations governing the publication of public journals on the Internet (i.e. e-access) are Section 6, first paragraph of the Free-dom of Information Regulations, which are aimed at a number of central government entities. This is limited by Section 6, third paragraph of the Freedom of Information Regulations, which lists specific exemptions from such publication. There are no legal grounds/authority to instruct municipal entities to publish a public journal on the Internet. Surveying the need for e-access in the municipalities is necessary. Cost assessments must be made before the e-access solution is adopted by the municipalities. A business model must be prepared for how the costs will be shared for the implementation and use of e-access in the municipalities. Milestones Start date End date Survey 2019 2019 Contact information Person responsible from the implementing body Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation/ ITPOL/Live Heltberg Entity Difi E-mail/Telephone Other public participants Collaborative civil society organisations, cross-sectoral working groups, etc. Organisations of the press
IRM Midterm Status Summary
3. E-access and potential expansion of e-access in the municipal sector
Main Objective
"The Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation is requesting Difi to conduct a survey of the potential for expansion of the e-access solution in the municipal sector. Many municipalities already use online solutions for publication of their electronic journals. The survey should be able to provide an overview of which municipalities currently have alternative solutions for publication and access and those which do not have any such solutions at all. The survey should be able to comment on the prerequisites of the municipalities to implement the common solution and the administrative and economic consequences of such use, both for the owners of the solution and for the individual municipalities.
Survey the potential for expansion of the e-access solution in the municipal sector.
The survey results will not contribute to solving the problem, but they will give the Ministry a better basis for determining how expansion of e-access in the municipal sector should be organised, with a view to increasing the number of municipalities that have access solutions."
Milestones
- Survey (2019)
Editorial Note: For the complete text of this commitment, please see Norway's action plan at https://www.regjeringen.no/en/dokumenter/norges-handlingsplan-4---open-government-partnership-ogp/id2638814/
IRM Design Report Assessment | |
Verifiable: | Yes |
Relevant: | Access to Information |
Potential impact: | Minor |
Commitment Analysis
Under Commitment 2 from Norway's third action plan (2016-2018), the Norwegian Digitalisation Agency launched the eInnsyn platform for electronic public records. eInnsyn improved the availability of electronic journaling as compared to the previous public electronic records system. [12] However, this platform is not currently used by municipalities (except for Oslo). With the eInnsyn platform already in place, this commitment in the current action plan seeks to gather knowledge on its potential usage for municipalities. Currently, the quality and availability of archived documents in municipalities varies significantly, and municipal authorities lack systematic information on archiving practices. [13] According to the regulations following the Freedom of Information Act, it is not mandatory for municipalities to publish journals online. [14] For state public authorities, eInnsyn is free to use, whereas municipalities will have to pay Norwegian Digitalisation Agency for the service provided.
For this commitment, Norwegian Digitalisation Agency will conduct a survey of Norwegian municipalities to analyse how they currently publish their records. The Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation (KMD) will then use the survey's results to determine how best to expand e-access in the municipal sector, with the aim of increasing the number of municipalities that have access solutions. While the survey itself will not directly lead to greater public access to government-held information, its findings could result in more Norwegian municipalities providing electronic access to their records. Therefore, the commitment is relevant to the OGP value of access to information.
The planned survey could provide KMD with better understanding of how it may improve archiving practices in Norwegian municipalities. However, the potential impact of this commitment is minor, as the survey would only serve as an internal diagnostic tool for the government. The Association of Norwegian Editors, Norwegian Press Association, and Norwegian Union of Journalists have previously voiced their concern that it should be mandatory for municipalities to publish their journals. This may be done by changing the regulations related to the Freedom of Information Act, mainly by adding regions and municipalities as public authorities obliged to publish their records. [15]
The IRM recommends the government initiate a legal review to strengthen and harmonise record-keeping and archiving requirements for municipalities and state public authorities. Similar to Commitment 1 (which pertained to archiving practices among national-level government bodies), the IRM also recommends developing guidelines for Norwegian municipalities on maintaining good archiving practices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Commitments
-
Archiving Documents
NO0054, 2019, Capacity Building
-
Making Energy Statistics Available
NO0055, 2019, Anti-Corruption
-
e-Access and Expansion
NO0056, 2019, Access to Information
-
Open Cultural Data
NO0057, 2019, Access to Information
-
Digital Spatial Planning
NO0058, 2019, E-Government
-
Streamline Public Procurement
NO0059, 2019, Anti-Corruption
-
Preventing Corruption
NO0060, 2019, Anti-Corruption
-
Beneficial Ownership Registry
NO0061, 2019, Anti-Corruption
-
User Orientation
NO0045, 2016, Capacity Building
-
Electronic Public Records (OEP)
NO0046, 2016, E-Government
-
Transparency Regarding Environmental Information
NO0047, 2016, E-Government
-
Disclosure of Financial Data
NO0048, 2016, Access to Information
-
Transparency Regarding Rainforest Funds
NO0049, 2016, E-Government
-
State Employees’ Ownership of Shares
NO0050, 2016, Anti-Corruption
-
Promote Freedom of Expression and Independent Media
NO0051, 2016, Civic Space
-
Country-By-Country Reporting
NO0052, 2016, Anti-Corruption
-
Register for Ultimate Beneficial Ownership
NO0053, 2016, Anti-Corruption
-
Public Review and Public Consultation
NO0020, 2013, Capacity Building
-
Registering and Preserving Digital Documentation Produced by Public Bodies
NO0021, 2013, Access to Information
-
The Norwegian Citizen Survey (Innbyggerundersøkelsen)
NO0022, 2013, Public Participation
-
Whistleblowing
NO0023, 2013, Anti-Corruption
-
Strengthened Information Exchange for More Efficient Crime Prevention and Combating
NO0024, 2013, Justice
-
Strengthening the Transparency of Public Authorities and Administration
NO0025, 2013, Access to Information
-
Egovernment with an End-User Focus
NO0026, 2013, E-Government
-
Plain Legal Language
NO0027, 2013, Capacity Building
-
Norwegian Grants Portal (MFA)
NO0028, 2013, Aid
-
An International Convention or Agreement on Financial Transparency
NO0029, 2013, Private Sector
-
Reducing Conflicts of Interests – Post-Employment Regulations
NO0030, 2013, Anti-Corruption
-
Centre for Integrity in the Defence Sector
NO0031, 2013, Security & Public Safety
-
A Better Overview of Committees, Boards and Councils – More Public Access to Information and Better Opportunities for Further Use
NO0032, 2013, E-Government
-
Modernizing Public Governance
NO0033, 2013, Capacity Building
-
Transparency in the Management of Oil and Gas Revenues
NO0034, 2013, Anti-Corruption
-
Transparency in the Management of the Government Pension Fund (GPF)
NO0035, 2013, E-Government
-
Transparency and Anti-Corruption Efforts
NO0036, 2013, Anti-Corruption
-
The Municipal Sector
NO0037, 2013, Education
-
“Simplify” (“Enkelt Og Greit”)
NO0038, 2013, E-Government
-
Electronic Public Records (OEP) – (Offentlig Elektronisk Postjournal)
NO0039, 2013, Access to Information
-
Re-Use of Public Sector Information (PSI)
NO0040, 2013, Access to Information
-
Access to Health Data
NO0041, 2013, E-Government
-
Renewal of the Government’S Website (Regjeringen.No – Government.No)
NO0042, 2013, E-Government
-
Declaration of Principles for Interaction and Dialogue with NGOs
NO0043, 2013, Capacity Building
-
Simplification and Digital Administration of Arrangements for NGOs
NO0044, 2013, Capacity Building
-
An Open Public Sector and Inclusive Government
NO0001, 2011, Anti-Corruption
-
Measures to Promote Gender Equality and Women’S Full Participation in Civic Life, the Private Sector, the Public Administration and Political Processes.
NO0002, 2011, Gender
-
Gender Equality – Participation in the Private Sector
NO0003, 2011, Gender
-
Increase Women's Representation in Local Government
NO0004, 2011, Gender
-
Gender Equality Program
NO0005, 2011, Gender
-
Gender Equality – Inclusion of Immigrant Women
NO0006, 2011, Gender
-
Gender Equality – Combat Gender Stereotypes
NO0007, 2011, Gender
-
Gender Equality – Youth Initiatives
NO0008, 2011, Gender
-
Gender Equality – Combat Domestic Violence
NO0009, 2011, Gender
-
Transparency in the Management of Oil and Gas Revenues / Financial Transparency
NO0010, 2011, Aid
-
Transparency in the Management of Oil and Gas Revenues / Financial Transparency – Government Global Pension Fund
NO0011, 2011, Fiscal Openness
-
Transparency in the Management of Oil and Gas Revenues / Financial Transparency – Combat Tax Evasion
NO0012, 2011, Fiscal Openness
-
Transparency in the Management of Oil and Gas Revenues / Financial Transparency – Multi-National Companies
NO0013, 2011, Fiscal Openness
-
An Open Public Sector and Inclusive Government – Create Central Communication Policy
NO0014, 2011, Fiscal Openness
-
An Open Public Sector and Inclusive Government
NO0015, 2011, E-Government
-
An Open Public Sector and Inclusive Government – Public Data Use
NO0016, 2011, Public Participation
-
An Open Public Sector and Inclusive Government – National Statistic Publication
NO0017, 2011, Access to Information
-
An Open Public Sector and Inclusive Government – National Public Opinion Survey
NO0018, 2011,
-
An Open Public Sector and Inclusive Government
NO0019, 2011, Public Participation