THE LAW REFORM COMMISSION OF HONG KONG ACCESS TO INFORMATION SUB-COMMITTEE CONSULTATION PAPER ACCESS TO INFORMATION This consultation paper can be found on the Internet at: <http://www.hkreform.gov.hk> December 2018 This Consultation Paper has been prepared by the Access to Information Sub-committee of the Law Reform Commission. It does not represent the final views of either the Sub-committee or the Law Reform Commission, and is circulated for comment and discussion only. The Sub-committee would be grateful for comments on this Consultation Paper by 5 March 2019. All correspondence should be addressed to: The Secretary Access to Information Sub-committee The Law Reform Commission 4th Floor, East Wing, Justice Place 18 Lower Albert Road Central Hong Kong Telephone: (852) 3918 4097 Fax: (852) 3918 4096 E-mail: [email protected] It may be helpful for the Commission and the Sub-committee, either in discussion with others or in any subsequent report, to be able to refer to and attribute comments submitted in response to this Consultation Paper. Any request to treat all or part of a response in confidence will, of course, be respected, but if no such request is made, the Commission will assume that the response is not intended to be confidential. It is the Commission's usual practice to acknowledge by name in the final report anyone who responds to a consultation paper. If you do not wish such an acknowledgment, please say so in your response. THE LAW REFORM COMMISSION OF HONG KONG ACCESS TO INFORMATION SUB-COMMITTEE CONSULTATION PAPER ACCESS TO INFORMATION ______________________ CONTENTS Chapter Page Preface Terms of Reference 1 The Sub-committee 1 Meetings 2 The link with Archives Law 2 Overview of Access to Information in Hong Kong 3 Statistics on Access to Information Requests 3 Methodology adopted for the consultation exercise 4 1. The existing access to information regime in Hong Kong 5 Introduction 5 Code on Access to Information 5 Review and appeal mechanism under the Code 6 Advice and training on operation of the Code 6 Promotion of the Code 7 Access to archival records 8 2. The Ombudsman Report on the access to information 9 regime in Hong Kong and the Government's Response Introduction 9 2014 The Ombudsman direct investigation report on the Access to 9 Information Regime in Hong Kong Government's Response to The Ombudsman’s direct investigation 11 report (March 2014) i Chapter Page 3. The right to seek and receive information 14 Introduction 14 Article 16 of the BOR and Article 19 of the ICCPR 14 Article 10 of the ECHR 17 The Leander approach 17 The Társaság line of cases 18 UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression 19 UK Supreme Court 19 BBC v Sugar 19 Kennedy v Information Commissioner 20 European Court of Human Rights in Magyar Helsinki Bizottság v 21 Hungary Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, section 2(b) 24 Local case-law 25 The Sub-committee's views 25 Recommendation 1 26 Recommendation 2 26 4. What constitutes "information" (or "records") 27 Introduction 27 Existing provisions in Hong Kong 27 Australia (Commonwealth) 28 Canada 29 European Union 30 Ireland 31 New Zealand 31 United Kingdom 32 United States of America 33 The Sub-committee's views 34 Recommendation 3 35 5. Proactive disclosure/publication scheme 36 Information to be published or made available routinely under the 36 Code Australia (Commonwealth) 37 Disclosure Log 38 Canada 39 Ireland 39 United Kingdom 41 Publication scheme 41 Model publication schemes 42 ii Chapter Page Datasets 43 United States of America 44 Reporting requirements to be published 44 Log disclosure 45 The Sub-committee's views 45 Recommendation 4 45 6. Which 'public bodies' should be covered 46 Existing regime in Hong Kong 46 UK Freedom of Information Act 2000 46 Adding public authorities to Schedule 1 48 Removing or amending entries in Schedule 1 48 Partly-affected Schedule 1 public authorities 49 Designated public authorities 50 Publicly owned companies 50 Australia (Commonwealth) 50 Ministers 52 Government contractors 52 State laws 52 Canada 52 Ontario 53 New Zealand 53 United States of America 54 The Sub-committee's views 56 Recommendation 5 59 7. Who can apply 60 Existing regime in Hong Kong 60 Australia (Commonwealth) 60 Canada 60 Ireland 61 New Zealand 61 United Kingdom 62 United States of America 62 The Sub-committee's views 63 Recommendation 6 63 8. Substantial and unreasonable diversion of resources: 64 costs/time ceiling and the charging of fees Introduction 64 Existing arrangements 64 iii Chapter Page An authority may refuse to give the requested information if it is 65 estimated that the cost of complying with the request would exceed a prescribed amount Australia (Commonwealth) 65 Ireland 66 New Zealand 66 Scotland 67 United Kingdom 67 Charging of fees 68 Australia (Commonwealth) 68 Canada 69 New Zealand 69 Scotland 69 United States of America 70 The Sub-committee's views 73 Recommendation 7 74 Application to archival information 74 Australia (Commonwealth) 74 Canada 76 New Zealand 76 United Kingdom 77 United States of America 78 The Sub-committee's views 79 Recommendation 8 79 9. Vexatious and repeated applications 80 Existing provisions under the Code 80 Australia (Commonwealth) 80 Vexatious applicants 80 The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner 82 Canada (Federal) 83 Ireland 84 Use of section 15(1)(g) 85 New Zealand 86 Section 18(h) – Refusal of vexatious information requests 86 Scotland 87 Section 49(1) – Decision by the Commissioner 88 The United Kingdom 89 Section 14(1) – vexatious requests 89 Meaning of "Vexatious" 90 Dransfield v Information Commissioner and another (also 91 Craven v Information Commissioner and another) Use of section 14(1) 93 Section 14(2) – repeated requests 94 Meaning of "identical or substantially similar" 95 Meaning of "reasonable interval" 95 iv Chapter Page Use of section 14(2) 96 United States of America 96 The Sub-committee's views 96 Recommendation 9 97 10. Exempt Information 98 Introduction 98 Existing provisions under the Code 98 (i) Defence and security 99 (ii) External affairs 100 (iii) Nationality, immigration and consular matters 100 (iv) Law enforcement, legal proceedings and public safety 101 (v) Damage to the environment 104 (vi) Management of the economy 105 (vii) Management and operation of the public service 105 (viii) Internal discussion and advice 107 (ix) Public employment and public appointments 108 (x) Improper gain or advantage 109 (xi) Research, statistics and analysis 109 (xii) Third party information 110 (xiii) Privacy of the individual 111 (xiv) Business affairs 112 (xv) Premature requests 114 (xvi) Legal restrictions 114 Exempt information in other common law jurisdictions 114 Australia (Commonwealth) 116 Canada 117 Mandatory exemptions 118 Discretionary (or Non-mandatory) exemptions 119 New Zealand 120 The absolute exemptions (Conclusive reasons) 120 The qualified exemptions (Other reasons) 121 United Kingdom 122 Absolute exemptions 123 Qualified exemptions 124 United States of America 133 Exemptions 133 Exclusions 134 The Sub-committee's views 134 Absolute exemptions 135 (1) Information accessible to applicant by other means 135 (2) Court records 135 (3) Legislative Council privilege 137 (4) Information provided in confidence 138 (5) Prohibitions on disclosure 138 (6) Defence and security 139 v Chapter Page (7) Inter-governmental affairs 140 (8) Nationality, immigration and consular matters 142 (9) Law enforcement, legal and relevant proceedings 142 (10) Legal professional privilege 143 (11) Executive Council's proceedings 143 (12) Privacy of the individual 144 Qualified exemptions 145 (1) Damage to the environment 145 (2) Management of the economy 145 (3) Management and operation of the public service, 146 and audit functions (4) Internal discussion and advice 148 (5) Public employment and public appointments 148 (6) Improper gain or improper advantage 149 (7) Research, statistics and analysis 149 (8) Business affairs 150 (9) Premature requests 151 (10) Conferring of honours 151 (11) Health and safety 152 Recommendation 10 152 Recommendation 11 153 Recommendation 12 153 11. Duration of exempt information 155 Introduction 155 Existing provisions/arrangements in Hong Kong 155 Australia (Commonwealth) 156 Australia (New South Wales) 156 Australia (South Australia) 157 Australia (Victoria) 157 Australia (Western Australia) 158 Canada (Federal) 158 Canada (Alberta) 159 Canada (Ontario) 162 Ireland 162 New Zealand 163 The United Kingdom 163 United States of America 167 The Sub-committee's views 168 Recommendation 13 168 12. Conclusive certificates 169 Introduction 169 Conclusive certificates in the UK Freedom of Information Act 2000 169 vi Chapter Page Section 53(2): Compliance conclusive certificate 170 UK Supreme Court decision in R (on the application of 173 Evans) v Attorney General 'Exemption conclusive certificates' 179 Legislative information on conclusive certificates in UK 180 Australia (Commonwealth) 180 Canada 181 Ireland 181 New Zealand 183 Scotland 184 The Sub-committee's views 184 Recommendation 14 184 Application to archival records 185 United Kingdom 185 Australia (Commonwealth) 186 The Sub-committee's views 187 Recommendation 15 187 13. Review and appeal 188 Introduction 188 United Kingdom 188 First stage: internal review 188 Second stage: Review by the Information Commissioner 189 Third Stage: Appeal to the First Tier Tribunal 191 Fourth stage: Appeal to the Upper Tribunal 191 Fifth and Sixth stage: Appeal from Upper Tribunal to Court of 192 Appeal or the Supreme