Bermuda’s freedom of information law could finally be enacted next year, according to a report published by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office yesterday.

The report by the Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council, on the Government’s progress regarding commitments it made to the council last year, says the Public Access to Information Act, passed by Parliament in July 2010, is “anticipated to come into force in 2014”.

When the bill was approved by MPs in the House of Assembly, then Premier Ewart Brown said it would take two to three years to implement across Government.

But three-and-a-half years later, there is still no sign of it.

Dr Brown’s successor Paula Cox pledged that the legislation would come into force in the “second half of 2012”.

And in July last year, Cabinet Secretary Donald Scott told The Royal Gazette: “The preparations for PATI remain on course for a planned go-live date later this year.”

That didn’t happen prior to the December 17 general election, when the One Bermuda Alliance became the new government.

There was no mention of PATI in the OBA’s election manifesto, in the Budget Speech in February or in either of the 2013 Throne Speeches.

Premier Craig Cannonier finally referred to it in a statement to the House of Assembly in March on spending plans for the Cabinet Office.

Mr Cannonier said staff would be hired in the coming fiscal year, following changes to the PATI Act in the House.

Asked in March why the law wasn’t enacted in 2012, Mr Scott said: “The House of Assembly convened only for one day on November 2, 2012, following the summer recess and then was dissolved for the general election in December 2012.

“As a consequence, there was no opportunity for Parliament to consider amendments and regulations pertaining to the Act prior to the end of 2012.”

It wasn’t possible to reach Mr Scott for comment yesterday.