Statistics on Code on Access to Information for second quarter of 2018

     The Government received a total of 1 846 requests for information under the Code on Access to Information in the second quarter of 2018, a spokesman for the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau said today (December 28).
 
     The total number of requests received since the introduction of the Code in March 1995 and up to the end of June 2018 amounted to 65 079. Of these, 3 875 requests were subsequently withdrawn by the requestors and 3 190 requests covered cases in which the bureaux/departments concerned did not hold the requested information. As at June 30, 2018, 303 requests were still being processed by bureaux/departments.

     Among the 57 711 requests which covered information held by bureaux/departments and which the bureaux/departments had responded to, 56 327 requests (97.6 per cent) were met, either in full (55 029 requests) or in part (1 298 requests), and 1 384 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 second quarter of 2018, the Ombudsman received 24 complaints relating to requests for information. In this quarter, the Ombudsman concluded 13 complaints, among which two were substantiated, one was partially substantiated, one was unsubstantiated, seven were settled after inquiries by the Ombudsman, and two were not pursued by the Ombudsman or outside the Ombudsman's jurisdiction. As at June 30, 2018, the Ombudsman's investigations on 41 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.