Statistics on Code on Access to Information for fourth quarter of 2017

     The Government received a total of 1,564 requests for information under the Code on Access to Information in the fourth quarter of 2017, a spokesman for the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau said today (June 29).

     The total number of requests received since the introduction of the Code in March 1995 and up to the end of December 2017 amounted to 61,338. Of these, 3,627 requests were subsequently withdrawn by the requestors and 2,975 requests covered cases in which the bureaux/departments concerned did not hold the requested information. As at December 31, 2017, 244 requests were still being processed by bureaux/departments.

     Among the 54,492 requests which covered information held by bureaux/departments and which the bureaux/departments had responded to, 53,196 requests (97.6 per cent) were met, either in full (51,989 requests) or in part (1,207 requests), and 1,296 requests (2.4 per cent) were refused.

     Any member of the public who is dissatisfied with the response of a bureau/department under the Code may request that the matter be reviewed. He or she may also lodge a complaint with the Ombudsman.

     In the fourth quarter of 2017, the Ombudsman received 20 complaints relating to requests for information. In this quarter, the Ombudsman concluded 27 complaints, among which five were unsubstantiated, 20 were settled after inquiries by the Ombudsman, and two were not pursued by the Ombudsman or outside the Ombudsman's jurisdiction. As at December 31, 2017, the Ombudsman's investigations on 24 complaints were ongoing.

     "The Code has provided an effective framework for the public to seek access to information held by the Government," the spokesman said.