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The FOI Advocate is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The blog relies on the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. We will correct errors and inaccuracies when we become aware of them.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

News from Germany on FOI...

Regulatory expert Thomas Hart, who worked on behalf of the Bertelsmann Foundation on FOI implementation in Germany, passed on some interesting statistics on the first year of access.

The government reports a total of 2,278 requests -- not many, but again, it's the first year. Of that total, 1,379 were totally or partially approved, with 410 rejected. The report said that 142 rejections were challenged, with 67 challenges rejected (27 pending)

The users? Mostly private citizens, with only 92 requests by journalists, and
4 by Members of Parliament.

Fees were charged in only 5 percent (114) of all approved information
requests, with an average fee of 50 Euro (65 US-D)

Read more here.

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