Civic Information - Administrative Publicity
| Published date | 01 September 1970 |
| Date | 01 September 1970 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002085237003600305 |
| Author | Bertil Wennergren |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Civic Information - Administrative
Publicity
by
Bertil WENNERGREN,
Deputy Parliamentary Ombudsman
UDC 35.077.7 : 35.083.8
About five years have passed since Professor
states that any person, who credibly shows
Donald C. Rowat published his article on
his legal interest in inspecting the documents
the problem of administrative secrecy in this
in a case and in copying particular ones, has
Review, No. 2/1966, pp. 99-106 (1). Signifi-
the right to do so. But still, the accessibility
cant events have taken place in the meantime.
of the documents is limited to a narrow circle
Sweden and Finland are no longer the only
of concerned people and the purpose is a
countries to prefer openness to secrecy as a
procedural one. There is no question of
fundamental administrative rule. Effective
openness towards the public. It has nothing
since July 4, 1967, there is the United States
to do with public information.
Information Act, which forms part of the
federal Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
And, in 1971, Acts concerning administrative
Objectives of general openness
publicity will enter into force in Denmark
and Norway. The legislative histories of the
The principle of administrative publicity
four Scandinavian and the American Acts,
was introduced in Sweden in 1766 as part of
as well as the juridical and practical solutions
an elaborate system of bureaucracy control.
they represent, have much to offer as to how
The country severely suffered at that time
openness may be brought about. The five.
from a corrupt and arbitrary officialdom. The
Acts will if the following be treated on a
remedies chosen against all the evil included
comparative basis, with the particular purpose
reinforced criminal liability for an official’s
of communicating matter-of-fact ideas about
breach of duty, efficient - supervision of the
systems of administrative publicity.
officials by their superiors and by a Parlia-
mentary Ombudsman, and an appropriate
The party and the public
procedure for appointments intended to prevent
nepotism and promote objectiveness. At the
An APA usually provides for a right of the
same time, the censorship of printed public-
party to inspect the file in his own case, of
ations, that had started in the seventeenth
course with certain exceptions. Although this
century and reached its golden age in the
right is, in principle, limited to a person in
eighteenth, was abolished. The freedom of
his particular capacity of party, there may,
the press was established with the free inter-
besides, exist a possibility for other interested
change of opinions as its main purpose. But
persons to examine the records. Thus, for
it was also emphasized that a free information
instance, article 80 of the Yugoslav APA
was needed as a means to disclose legal defi-
ciencies and prevent abuse of power by officials,.
The freedom to print and publish was expected
(1) OTHER REFERENCES :
to contribute to the abolishment of &dquo; that
Attorney General’s Memorandum on the Public Informa-
tion Section of the Administrative Procedure Act,
pernicious curtain of secrecy behind which
United States Department of Justice, 1967.
self-interest, bias, and unlawfulness could play
Davis, Kenneth Culp, " The Information Act : A
its abominable game at the citizens’ expense &dquo;.
preliminary analysis ", The University of Chicago
With such a
Law
target in view, it was quite natural
Review, 34 : 4, summer 1967, p. 761.
to
Herlitz, Nils, "
include
Publicity of official documents in
expressly in the freedom of the
Sweden ", Public Law, 1958, p. 50.
press a right to print and publish officials
Herlitz, Nils, Elements of Nordic public law, 1969,
documents in extenso. Further, without free
p. 196.
access to the documents, such a right would
Holmgren, Kurt, " La publicité des actes officiels en
droit suédois ", Revue du droit
be rather ineffective. It was therefore
public, 1968, p. 1019.
provided
Langrod, G., " La publicité erga omnes des dossiers
in the Freedom of the Press Act of 1766
administratifs en Suède ", Mélanges en l’honneur
that officials documents should &dquo; upon request
d’Alexandre Svolos, p. 56.
immediately be made available to anyone,
Petrén, Gustaf, "Die Aktenöffentlichkeit in Schweden ",
Verwaltungsarchiv, 1958, p. 323.
making such a request &dquo;.
It was added that
244
&dquo;
to that end free access shall be maintained
in 1809. Administrative publicity was among
with regard to the copying of documents
the principles which were regarded at least
in loco or getting officially confirmed copies
with sympathy. In 1951, the standpoint was
thereof &dquo;.
confirmed by an Act about the publicity of
officials documents that had Swedish legislation
Until 1766, the Swedish administration also
and its fundamental principles as guiding stars.
acknowledged the old notion of arcana regni,
i.e. governmental secrecy (cf. executive pri-
The Norwegian Administrative Publicity
vilege) that had asserted itself concurrently
Act is derived from two drafts prepared by
with the bureaucratization of the administra-
royal commissions in 1958 and 1967. The
tion. The Act now swept that concept away,
first commission was entrusted with the task
and gave rise to the opposite notion of publicity.
of outlining general measures for the improve-
With a short interval of some decades, the
ment of legal security in public administration.
positions taken in 1766 have been maintained
Its suggestions resulted among other things in
with continuous adaptations to societal
the institution of a parliamentary ombudsman
changes. The Freedom of the Press Act now
in 1962 and the issuing of an APA in 1968.
in force was adopted in 1949. It forms part
The commission’s suggestions about the in-
of the Constitution. Its objectives are set
troduction of the principle of administrative
out to be &dquo; free interchange of opinions and
publicity met much scepticism and many
general enlightenment &dquo;.
In order to ensure
objections, especially from the bureaucracy.
that aim, &dquo; every Swedish citizen shall have a
The general meaning seemed to be that from
right to express his thoughts and opinions in
the point of view of legal security the existing
print, to publish official documents, and to
safeguards, after the addition of an ombuds-
make statements and communicate information
man and an APA, were sufficient. However,
on any subject whatsoever &dquo;.
The right to
it turned out that the idea could not be shelved
publish oflicial documents is thus still integra-
and forgotten. There was a rather strong
ted in the freedom to express oneself in print.
opinion in political circles and among the
And the Act, like its predecessors, includes
news media in favor of the idea.
A second
provisions about document publicity. The
commission was therefore appointed in 1964
purpose of this publicity is described by the
and given the special task of analysing the
same words as the Freedom to print and
advantages and disadvantages of adminis-
publish : &dquo; free interchange of opinion and
trative publicity. During the meantime, a
general enlightenment &dquo;. In order to further
Danish royal commission had been busy with
those objectives, &dquo; every Swedish citizen shall
the same problems and after several years of
have free access to official documents &dquo;.
The
deliberations delivered its report in 1962.
underlying ideas are, of course, not quite
That commission recommended a changeover
the same now as in 1766. The truly demo-
to the principle...
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