Access to information

Abstract

The Hong Kong government, like most modern governments, gathers and generates large amounts of recorded information. It documents its decisions, its operations and its dealings with the private and public sectors. It collects statistics and data on people, institutions and the economy. Whether and how it shares that information with its citizens are the subjects of much discussion and controversy. This chapter focuses on laws and regulations that affect how certain government information and proceedings are required to be made available to the public and, by extension, journalists. In particular, it examines Hong Kong's administrative Code on Access to Information. While the code requires public access to some government-held or produced information, it also expressly excludes disclosure of information across more than a dozen broad categories. The practical effect of the code - Together with the highly restrictive Official Secrets Ordinance, described in Chapter 7, and the lack of so-called sunshine laws that would require the meetings of many governmental bodies to be open - is to cloak in secrecy much of even the ordinary work of the government. © Hong Kong University Press 2007. All rights reserved.