Freedom of Information Bill passed in Cayman
The Cayman Islands is moving towards giving legislative grounds to the public’s right to access most records of the government. According to Government Business, the information to be freely accessed is to include records of statutory authorities and government-owned companies.
The Freedom of Information Bill was passed into law by the Legislative Assembly on August 31, 2007. It is scheduled to become law on January 1, 2009. So, now the document had come full circle since it was introduced as a paper for public discussion and consultation to the House in November 2005.
In accordance with the government, the bill’s 14 month roll-out period is needed to ensure that all governmental departments are ready process requests for information from the public.
According to the bill, Government ministries, portfolios and statutory authorities are defined as public authorities and even Cabinet cannot not excluded from a Freedom of Information request.