Pati request fees are ‘punitive’, says human rights expert
Bermuda’s citizens should not have to pay to request publicly held records, according to the head of a global human rights organisation.
Toby Mendel, executive director of the Centre for Law and Democracy, told The Royal Gazette that the Government’s plan to bring in a public access to information fee, outlined in last month’s Budget statement, was “punitive” and aimed at discouraging requests.
Mr Mendel, a lawyer and expert on freedom of information legislation, said: “As a matter of principle, one should not have to pay to exercise a human right.
“Furthermore, it will cost the Government more to collect the fee than it costs, so it does not make any sense financially.
“Basically, these are punitive measures to try to deter requests. As such, we are strongly opposed to them.”
David Burt, the Premier and Minister of Finance, said in his Budget statement that Pati increased the Government’s transparency and accountability but could be “cumbersome and expensive” so a “nominal” fee was needed to recoup some costs.
He said “high levels of expenditure on requests” were not uncommon, with consultants having to be hired to process them and one public authority spending more than $300,000 to deal with a single request.
The Royal Gazette submitted a public access to information request to the Ministry of Finance last week seeking:
* The business case for introducing fees for Pati requests
* The projected amount of the fee for Pati requests
* The projected revenue from those fees for 2023-24
We also submitted a Pati request to the Government’s Pati unit asking for:
* details of the Pati request which resulted in a government authority spending “in excess of $300,000”, including the public authority it was sent to, what it asked for, and any subsequent disclosure of records
* a breakdown of how the $300,000+ was spent
* the list of short-term consultants hired by the Government to deal with Pati requests since the law came into effect in 2015
* a breakdown of the cost of those hires
* details of the Pati requests processed by those consultants and any subsequent disclosure of records
* the list of public authorities involved in the hiring of consultants for the purpose of processing Pati requests
Decisions from both public authorities are due by mid-April.
Mr Burt did not tell taxpayers how much the fee would be or how much revenue it was expected to generate for the Government. He said requests from private citizens requesting records about themselves would be exempt from the fee.
The Premier said the charge would “not nearly cover the extraordinary amount that researching Pati requests costs the Government, but the Cabinet has deemed it necessary to implement a fee to ensure that at least some of the costs of requests are recouped”.
Mr Mendel said: “The argument about money is not convincing. Most countries that charge access fees lose money on them.
“And if they charge so much that they are not losing money, then they will really be discouraging requests.”
He said it was estimated that it cost $40 to process a $5 access to information fee in Canada.
Mr Mendel’s organisation analyses FOI laws around the world and gives them a score based on various metrics, including whether it is free to submit a request for records.
He said 106 out of 136 countries got a full score for that measure because they did not charge “any form of requesting fee”.
Mr Mendel’s remarks follow a statement last week from Information Commissioner Gitanjali Gutierrez, who said she and the public were not consulted on the introduction of a fee and she “rejected” the plan.
The Vancouver Sun reported in January that the introduction of a $10 FOI fee in British Columbia resulted in news media requests for government records dropping by 80 per cent, from 575 applications in the comparable six months before the fee was introduced to 115 afterwards.
The Royal Gazette asked the Premier to share the expected amount of the fee and estimated revenue from it for 2023-24, as well as for further details of the “cumbersome and expensive“ requests he referred to in the Budget statement and at a later press conference.
A government spokeswoman said more details would be provided during the Budget debate.
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