As of June 2008, at least 77 countries had nationwide laws on access to information (ATI), freedom of information (FOI), or right to information (RTI) – establishing mechanisms for the public to request and receive government held information.

The first ATI law was enacted by Sweden in 1766, largely motivated by the parliament's interest in access to information held by the King. Finland was the next to adopt, in 1951, followed by the USA, which enacted its first law in 1966, and Denmark and Norway, which passed laws in 1970.

The interest in ATI laws took a leap forward when the USA, reeling from the 1974 Watergate scandal, passed a strong FOI law in 1976 which was considered 'the gold standard' for the next decade, and likely provided added stimulus to passage by several western democracies of their own laws – France and Netherlands in 1978, Australia, New Zealand and Canada in 1982, Greece 1986, Austria 1987 and Italy 1990. By 1990, the number of countries with ATI/FOI laws had climbed to 13.

The fall of the Berlin Wall and the rapid growth of civil society groups demanding access to information – especially about the environment, public health impacts of accidents and government policies, draft legislation, maladministration, and corruption – gave impetus to the next wave of enactments, which peaked in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Between 1992 and 2006, 27 countries in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union passed ATI laws, of which Ukraine, which had suffered the Chernobyl disaster, was among the first.

During that same period through to the present, 36 countries in other regions of the world enacted laws, including ten in Latin America, several in the Caribbean, ten more in Europe, and six in Asia. In Africa, four countries passed laws beginning with South Africa in 2000.

Zimbabwe's Access to Information and Privacy Act has been used more to suppress information in the name of privacy than to make information available and accordingly is often not included in ATI counts.

The momentum for adoption of ATI laws is building in Africa, where at least eight countries had bills tabled, or soon to be tabled, with their legislatures as of July 2008 – they were Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Morocco, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Zambia – and civil society groups are actively working with the government on drafts in several more countries, including Cameroon and Mozambique.

Momentum is also developing in Asia, boosted by China's adoption of nationwide regulations – applicable to all levels of government and enforceable by the courts – in 2007 and Indonesia's adoption of a law with nationwide application in 2008.

The region least touched by the right to information movement is the Middle East. Only Jordan has a law and that law is weak and was driven by the government rather than civil society. Nonetheless, civil society groups are pressing for a law in Morocco, and groups in Egypt and Bahrain have expressed interest.

Of course, mere passage of a law does not necessarily signify an advance in terms of actual transparency and response to public demands for information. Nonetheless, laws generally do help stimulate transitions from cultures of state secrecy towards attitudes of greater transparency and responsiveness. A study undertaken by the Justice Initiative and partners in 14 countries in 2003 to 2005 demonstrates that there is consistently higher responsiveness to public demands in countries with laws than in those without.

In order for laws to be truly useful (a) they must include good substantive provisions, (b) there must be effective, low-cost and relatively speedy mechanisms for implementation, complaint and appeal, (c) the public must demand information and monitor the law's implementation, generally facilitated by one or a few non-governmental organisations; (d) there must be political will at the highest levels; and (e) there must be adequate resources.

• This article was written for The Royal Gazette by The Open Society Justice Initiative.