Prohibition of providing defamatory information from July 1, 2018

New regulations added to the Law on Access to Information recently passed by the National Assembly...

Delegates press button to pass Law on Access to Information

The Law on Access to Information was just passed by the National Assembly on April 6.

The National Assembly Standing Committee said that during the discussion, there were opinions suggesting adding regulations prohibiting the provision of sensitive information related to girls and information that causes gender discrimination.

According to the explanatory report before the delegates pressed the button, sensitive information related to girls who are victims of human trafficking, prostitution... is information that, if provided, would violate the honor, dignity, and reputation of individuals.

This content has been strictly prohibited from being provided as stipulated in Clause 3, Article 11 of the draft law.

Regarding information causing gender discrimination, accepting the opinions of delegates, the National Assembly Standing Committee has added this content to the prohibition on provision in Article 11.

Specifically, Clause 3, Article 11 prohibits: "Providing or using information to insult the honor, dignity, reputation, cause gender discrimination, or cause damage to the property of individuals, agencies, or organizations."

The scope and responsibility for providing information is also explained in the report of the National Assembly Standing Committee.

The report stated that there were suggestions to add regulations for state agencies that, in addition to providing information they created, they must also provide information they hold to facilitate people's access to information.

The viewpoint of the National Assembly Standing Committee is to ensure the feasibility of the law, the accuracy of the information provided as well as suitability with practical conditions, ensure the normal operation of State agencies and not create loopholes for the abuse of information provision requests, the law stipulates that State agencies are responsible (obligated) to provide information created by themselves.

In addition, to facilitate citizens and receive opinions from delegates, the National Assembly Standing Committee has added regulations encouraging state agencies, depending on their actual conditions and capabilities, to provide other information created and held by their agencies in the process of performing their duties and powers.

Regarding the proposal to remove the regulation that when requesting information, the "reason and purpose of requesting information" must be clearly stated, the National Assembly Standing Committee will only explain but not accept it.

According to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly, citizens must state the reason and purpose when requesting information to enhance citizens' responsibility and limit abuse and exploitation of information access that affects the normal operations of agencies.

The proposal to add a form of providing information via telephone was also not accepted on the grounds that providing information via telephone is very susceptible to information distortion and does not guarantee legality, which can lead to complaints and denunciations in this field.

In response to the opinions of the law delegates, the Minister of Finance was also assigned to specify the details of the cost of accessing information instead of assigning it to the Government.

Consisting of 5 chapters and 36 articles, the Law on Access to Information will take effect from July 1, 2018.

According to Vneconomy.vn