The Minister of the Presidency José Simpson Polo, presented this Thursday 27 before the plenary session of the National Assembly, the Law on Transparency and Access to Information, on behalf of the Executive Branch.
The new Law that modifies Law 6 of January 22, 2002 and dictates other provisions, aims to broaden its scope to international standards as well as the regulations regarding access to information.
The Cabinet Council on April 18, 2023 authorized the Minister of the Presidency to present the document that, according to Simpson “seeks to guarantee the right of access to public information in a justified manner, which is timely, complete and reliable for the exercise of citizen rights”.
“Corruption constitutes one of the most serious threats to all states in all latitudes and regions, in developed or developing countries,” said the minister before the plenary session.
As part of its content, the bill presented for the consideration of the Assembly includes the inclusion of the guiding principles that constitute the guide for the implementation and application of the future law; the definition of obligated subjects and their responsibilities, procedures and sanctions that are applicable to those in the event of non-compliance with the obligations imposed by law; as well as the rules relating to the processing of requests for access to information.
“I am sure that those of us who are here today are united by the intention of combining all the efforts that are necessary to stop and end corruption,” the minister said.
Regarding this initiative, UNESCO pointed out that “Panama is advancing in terms of legislation on access to information with this proposal” and stressed that “this reform process constitutes a window of opportunity to work on robust and transformative projects that can reflect not only what is established by the Inter-American Model Law, but even exceed it”.
“I am confident that because it is a normative instrument, this honorable Assembly will know how to pass the bill that I am presenting today, the treatment provided for in our constitutional order to convert it into a law of the Republic,” Simpson stressed.
