The new law, enacted on January 22, provides, among other things, that "every individual or juridical person has the right to request information from government bodies" and the official concerned has 30 days to provide such information; the officials failure to comply will bring a fine or dismissal. The law sets out nine cases of "restricted access," among them those having to do with information on national security and cases under investigation by the Public Prosecutors Office.
IAPA President Robert J. Cox, assistant editor of The Post and Courier, Charleston, South Carolina, recalled that Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru have legislation enabling partial access to public records, but said that "the Panamanian law is the one that provides for greatest access, because it contains the concept of habeas data, states that officials that deny access to the information shall be penalized and empowers the courts to step in when there is such denial."
However, Cox expressed caution, warning of the danger that the restrictions on access to information could become "the rule rather than the exception." He added that in matters of press freedom "it is always best to have no laws and regulations" as "when there are press laws, they are always manipulated to curtail press freedom."
Cox said that people in general benefit from access laws and they particularly make the work of journalists easier on behalf of the publics right to be informed. "We shall be closely watching what happens in practice in the Panamanians use of this right and the kind of response they obtain from their government officials," he declared.
Coincidentally, Bolivian President Jorge Quiroga said, during a Press Freedom Forum that the IAPA held last week in Bolivia, that the reform of his countrys constitution would include provisions on access to information.
The IAPA has conducted 18 similar national forums
throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, insisting that governments offer
their citizens means of access to public records. The next such forum is scheduled
for February 20-22 in Caracas, Venezuela.
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