The European Union programme aimed at promoting social cohesion, through its Democratic Governance Area coordinated by FIIAPP, organised an awareness-raising event related to the law, together with the OAS Secretariat for Legal Affairs International Law Department (DDI), the Transparency and Access to Information Network (RTA) and the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sports State Archives Sub-directorate.
Both the Model Law on Document Management and its Application Guide are annexes to Inter-American Model Law 2.0 on Access to Public Information that was approved by the OAS General Assembly in October 2020. They were created as an additional input to help the member states better integrate the regulations on access to public information through the effective generation, conservation, classification and custody of the documentary assets that contain the information.
In the opening ceremony, DDI Director, Dante Negro, stressed that the principle of maximum publicity enshrined in Model Law 2.0 on Access to Public Information consists of delivering complete, timely and accessible information, for which it is essential to provide effective documentary management that enables the responsible parties to comply with this principle in practice.
Likewise, Blanca Lilia Ibarra Cadena, Commissioner President with the National Institute of Transparency, Access to Information and Data Protection (INAI) in Mexico, speaking on behalf of the RTA Presidency, referred to the important role played by the national archives and archivists in an effective access to public information system. Marc Litvine, Senior Expert with the European Commission Directorate-General for International Partnerships, reflected on the need for greater transparency and to redouble the public’s ability to obtain public information in times when it is necessary to strengthen trust in government and political institutions.
Finally, Emma de Ramón Acevedo, President of the Latin American Archives Association, highlighted the importance of people who specialise in archive management as a vital part of preserving and keeping archival heritage alive and usable, and called for close coordination between guarantor bodies and general archives.
The event featured two panels including experts Severiano Hernández, Deputy Director General of the State Archives at the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sport; Ricard Pérez, Head of the Document Management and Electronic Archives Area at the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sport Sub-Directorate of State Archives; Gloria de la Fuente, President of the Chilean Council for Transparency; Josefina Román Vergara, Commissioner of the INAI; Ángel Sánchez López, Coordinator with the Latin American Archives Association Working Group on Access to Information and Transparency; Alejandra Villar, Head of Archives with the Access to Public Information Unit in Uruguay; and Óscar Campos, Head of Archives at the El Salvadorian Institute for Access to Public Information.
The nearly 200 participants from across the entire Ibero-American region also had the opportunity to ask questions to the panellists in real time.
Further information can be found on the event’s website.
