公众对政府信息公开实施状况的评价与监督——美国“奈特开放政府系列调查报告”论析

Evaluating and Monitoring Implementation of FOIA by the Public:A Review of Knight Open Government Audit of the U. S.

美国《信息自由法》的文本虽然缺少在今天看来必不可少的公众参与规则,但在实施时社会公众的广泛且组织化地参与已经构成《信息自由法》有效实施与持续发展的一个显著方面。美国"解密国家安全资料库"作为公益性非政府组织在2003-2008年持续发布了七篇"奈特开放政府系列调查报告",已经成为对政府信息公开实况予以社会评议的一个范本。该系列报告综合运用了政府信息公开申请与答复规则和国家保密文件定期解密规定,揭示了美国联邦信息公开中普遍存在着积压与迟延回复、"伪秘密"、网站建设不力等问题与产生这些问题的原因。该系列调查报告反映了公众对联邦信息公开工作的组织化参与,对信息自由法实施状况的机制化监督和专业、系统化的社会评议,对蓬勃发展的信息公开法制化的世界潮流和我国的信息公开法制有诸多有益启示。

It is not included in the text of FOIA the regulations concerning public participation which seems essential in today's society,though.In the implementation of the regulations,organized public participation in a large scale turns to be a big part of effective implementation and sustained development of FOIA.From 2003 to 2008,the National Security Archive,an NGO,issued consecutively seven Knight Open Government Audits.These have become a template of FOIA commentary.The items concerning application for the disclosure of government info and its reply,and the declassification of the confidential state documents as well make known such problems as backlog and delay,false confidentiality and poor construction of websites,and their causes.Knight Open Government Audits mirror the organized public participation of FOIA,the mechanism of monitoring the implementation of FOIA,and systematic professional evaluation.These are very instructive to the legalization of information disclosure at home and abroad.