Access to Public Information: a comparison of the main aspects of Brazilian information access laws and those of other countries and the role of information science in this context

Resumo

The right to access public information is currently a central pillar of Brazilian democracy. Law No. 12,527/2011, Information Access Law (LAI), is one of the tools responsible for providing citizens with the conditions to participate in the democratic process.

Information for the public sector goes beyond a tool used in strategic planning and decision-making. Information within the scope of public administration allows citizens to participate in administration, exercise social control, and develop fair public policies.

Information in public administration has the following functions: serve as a basis for state decisions in favour of improvements for the population; keep citizens informed to ensure the implementation of their rights and duties; and serve as a resource for management and development.

At first, access to public information referred to the idea of state supervision by citizens in addition to ensuring the exercise of other rights (life, liberty, equality, security, and property). Today, access to public information goes beyond the supervision of public spending. The availability of information produced/stored by the public sector can be used in a variety of ways, for example, in the planning and management of private sector organisations.

This article presents the results of a study that investigated organisation and access to public information. This study delved deeper into the study of information access laws and compared the main differences between access laws in Brazil, Sweden, Italy, Mexico, Chile, the United States, Spain, and Argentina. Through this comparison, the Brazilian law on access to information is complete and highly regarded.