Administrative Law. Freedom of Information Act. Commercial or Financial Information "Confidential" If Disclosure Would Impair Government Access to Information or Harm Competitive Position of Informant. National Parks & Conservation Ass'n v. Morton, 498 F. 2d 765 (D. C. Cir. 1974)

1974 ◽  
Vol 88 (2) ◽  
pp. 470 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
National Parks ◽  
Administrative Law ◽  
Financial Information ◽  
Freedom Of Information ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Freedom Of Information Act ◽  
Competitive Position

11. Giving Reasons for Decisions

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Elliott ◽  
Jason Varuhas
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Common Law ◽  
Procedural Fairness ◽  
Administrative Law ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Freedom Of Information ◽  
Freedom Of Information Act ◽  
Reasons For Decisions

This chapter examines the content and scope of the duty to give reasons, suggesting that giving reasons for decisions should be treated as a central facet of procedural fairness in administrative law. It first differentiates the duty to give reasons from the duty to give notice, the possibility of inferring unreasonableness from an absence of reasons, the proportionality doctrine, and the duty of candour. It then considers why reasons are required and goes on to discuss the duty to give reasons at common law. It also describes statutory duties and other duties to give reasons, paying attention to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Finally, it analyzes the question of whether a duty to give reasons has been discharged, and provides an overview of the remedial consequences of a breach of the duty to give reasons.

Freedom of Information and Transparency as Administrative and Constitutional Rights

1999 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 285-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Harlow
Keyword(s):  
Administrative Law ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
Freedom Of Information ◽  
Constitutional Rights ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
The Media ◽  
Constitutional Right ◽  
Ec Law ◽  
Conceptual Confusion

Freedom of information is an idea which has been high on the political agenda of western democratic societies for many years. It has been cultivated, propagated and sometimes misused in self-interested fashion by the media. Its meaning, always imprecise, has fluctuated. It has been recycled under the American terms of “openness” and “Government in the Sunshine”. Recently it has been once more recycled under the fashionable term “transparency”. In the European context, this imprecision has been detrimental to the development of logical and sturdy principles concerning transparency and access to information. What has emerged from the conceptual confusion has been a reliance on the more restricted administrative law rights of access to information in contexts where a constitutional right to transparency would have been more appropriate, with a consequential impoverishment of the transparency concept in EC law.

Access to Information under the Nigerian Freedom of Information Act, 2011: Challenges to Implementation and the Rhetoric of Radical Change

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 435-461
Author(s):  
Uchechukwu Nwoke
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Freedom Of Information ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Freedom Of Information Act ◽  
Public Governance ◽  
The Right ◽  
Right Of Access

AbstractInformation is essential for the functioning of modern societies. Access to information denotes the right of citizens to obtain information regarding how they are governed. In 2011, Nigeria enacted the Freedom of Information Act, to ensure openness and transparency in public governance. This article evaluates the extent to which the legislation has strengthened the right of access to information in Nigeria. Through analysis of the provisions of the act and some decided cases, the article argues that challenges, both in the act's provisions and in its enforcement by the courts, have resulted in a “blunted” law that lacks the capacity to satisfy the people's expectations on the right of access to public information. Drawing on the experience of other jurisdictions where similar laws are operative (notably South Africa and India), the article suggests ways through which the implementation of the act could be made more effective.

scholarly journals Seeking Out Non-Public Information: Sell-Side Analysts and the Freedom of Information Act

2019 ◽  
Vol 95 (1) ◽  
pp. 233-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
April Klein ◽  
Tao Li ◽  
Bobo Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Stock Returns ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Freedom Of Information ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Freedom Of Information Act ◽  
Consensus Recommendation ◽  
Difference In Differences ◽  
Device Applications ◽  
Gain Access

ABSTRACTA number of sell-side healthcare analysts gain access to information outside the purview of management through Freedom of Information Act requests to the Food and Drug Administration for records on factory inspections, complaints, and drug and medical device applications. Using a difference-in-differences methodology, we find that buy (sell) recommendations and upgrades (downgrades) earn higher (lower) stock returns over the year following the receipt of FDA records. We also examine the type of information revealed in FDA factory inspection reports, and find that analysts are less likely to downgrade and are less pessimistic in their recommendations than the consensus recommendation when the information contained in the FDA report is not particularly severe. Our findings are consistent with a subset of analysts utilizing non-public information channels independent of management to gain value-relevant information about their covered firms.

Keeping the secrets of the dead? An evaluation of the statutory framework for access to information about deceased persons

Legal Studies ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Donnelly ◽  
Maeve McDonagh
Keyword(s):  
Freedom Of Information ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Freedom Of Information Act ◽  
Health Records ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
Legal Duty ◽  
Legislative Framework ◽  
The Dead

In England and Wales, the question of access to information about deceased persons is determined under two separate statutes: the Access to Health Records Act 1990 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This paper examines the normative and legal issues raised by access to information about the dead and evaluates the statutory framework. It draws on philosophical and legal sources which support the claim that the dead are owed a moral and legal duty of confidence. However, it also shows that this is not an absolute duty and it identifies the public and private justifications which favour the provision of access to information about the dead. It argues that the current statutory framework is excessively restrictive and that it fails to provide an appropriate context within which interests favouring access may be considered. Accordingly, it argues that the law needs to be reformed and that a specific legislative framework dealing with access to information about the dead should be introduced. The paper concludes by setting out some preliminary suggestions regarding the possible form of such a legislative framework.

Freedom of Information and Transparency as Administrative and Constitutional Rights

1999 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 285-302
Author(s):  
Carol Harlow
Keyword(s):  
Administrative Law ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
Freedom Of Information ◽  
Constitutional Rights ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
The Media ◽  
Constitutional Right ◽  
Ec Law ◽  
Conceptual Confusion

Freedom of information is an idea which has been high on the political agenda of western democratic societies for many years. It has been cultivated, propagated and sometimes misused in self-interested fashion by the media. Its meaning, always imprecise, has fluctuated. It has been recycled under the American terms of “openness” and “Government in the Sunshine”. Recently it has been once more recycled under the fashionable term “transparency”. In the European context, this imprecision has been detrimental to the development of logical and sturdy principles concerning transparency and access to information. What has emerged from the conceptual confusion has been a reliance on the more restricted administrative law rights of access to information in contexts where a constitutional right to transparency would have been more appropriate, with a consequential impoverishment of the transparency concept in EC law.

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