2018/08/01 by Gregory Michener, Evelyn Contreras, Irene Niskier
Social Sciences · #Brazilian Legal Issues #Corruption and Economic Development #E-Government and Public Services
paper · pdf · doi:10.1590/0034-761220170289
crossref issued 2018/08/01 · crossref published 2018/08/01 · crossref published-online 2018/08/01 · openalex publication_date 2018/08/01 · crossref created 2018/08/31 · crossref deposited 2019/10/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref indexed 2026/07/28 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Abstract How well is Brazil’s access to information (ATI) law working five years after passage? And what can be done to improve it? Drawing on official data as well as nine evaluations of compliance with ATI obligations, interviews with policymakers, and archival research, this paper provides descriptive and inferential statistics on compliance with ATI requests and indicators of implementation. Results show that less than one in every two requests in Brazil obtains a response from agencies, and more than 50% of requests exceed the time limits established in the law. Evidence of weak commitments to ATI are also illustrated by the paucity of several key indicators of compliance, including statistics on requests, declared commitments to ATI, ATI-specific platforms for making requests, and designated oversight institutions. Brazil urgently needs to invest in greater information management, empowering oversight institutions to implement and adjudicate ATI obligations.