A JOINT Select Committee of Parliament met yesterday to begin the first review of the two-year-old Access to Information Act.
During the committee meeting, preliminary discussions were held on the possibility of changing the name of the legislation.
Information Minister Senator Burchell Whiteman, the committee chairman, has argued that a name change may be necessary to reflect the fact that the act was "about access to official documents" and not just access to information in a general sense.
PROPOSALS FOR AMENDMENTS
The committee also agreed to invite submissions from relevant entities to outline proposals for amendments to the legislation. Those submissions should be sent to the Clerk of the Houses of Parliament before the next committee meeting scheduled for January 23.
The Access to Information Act came into effect on January 5, 2004 and is applied to all public entities comprising ministries, agencies, departments and other government bodies as defined under the Act. Under the legislation, requests for access to information are required to be dealt with within 30 days, while matters relating to national security, trade, a person's individual copyrighted material and personal information are exempt.
