Exclusion of Private Sector from Freedom of Information Laws: Implications from a Human Rights Perspective

Most freedom of information laws exclude the private sectorfrom their jurisdictional purview, and apply only to information andrecords held by the state, subject to exemptions. A main reason for the exclusion is that the laws have evolved in the conventional human rights framework, which has long imposed obligations for human rights on the state only. A departure from this convention is now taking place with sharing of human rights responsibilities with the private sector as well. In this scenario, exclusion of the private sector from the laws has deleterious effects on transparency and integrity in public policy as well as on capability of the citizens to exercise their human rights. Because the private sector is now performing many public functions that were conventionally performed by the state, substantial amount of information held by the former is now placed out of the scope of legal regime for access to information. Therefore, extension of the regime to the privatesector has become vital for advancement of the human rights agenda.