The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ), pointing to its role as the "hub and repository for the country's key economic activities", says it wants protection from the provisions of the Access to Information Act (ATIA), and has recommended that the law be amended to provide that the bank release information only with the permission of the governor or finance minister.

In a written submission to the Joint Select Committee of Parliament currently reviewing the performance of the Act, the BOJ also recommended that the minutes of the central bank's board meetings be exempted from public disclosure for 20 years, or for any period specified by the finance minister and subject to "affirmative resolution".

"The granting of exempt status is crucial to ensure that the very sensitive matters discussed at Central Bank board meetings are not divulged to the public at large and that directors will not be restrained in their participation at these meetings because of fear of disclosure of their contribution to debates or their utterances of positions taken on any issue," the BOJ said in its submission.

The Joint Select Committee, which is chaired by minister of information, Senator Burchell Whiteman, is expected to meet on Wednesday morning at Gordon House when the submission is likely to be discussed.
This is the first review of the Act, which came into effect on a phased basis on January 5, 2004 with a mandatory requirement for a biennial parliamentary review.

The Act is aimed at bringing greater transparency to government by giving the public access to official documents.
In making its case for protection from the provisions of the Act, the BOJ pointed out that its role in the country's key economic activities included:

. monetary policy formulation and
implementation;
. control of money supply:
. issuance of currency, i e notes and coins;
. financial system stability;
. supervision of deposit taking entities;
. exchange rate stability; and

. ownership and custody of foreign reserves.
"Because of the preponderance of these key economic functions, with emphasis on price stability, there are many deliberative processes within the bank that demand clear protection from the provisions of the ATIA," the BOJ said and identified the processes as:

. all minutes of internal meetings relating to the bank's processes;
. all minutes of the bank's board and its sub-committees; and
. all working documents and other consultative papers.
In an apparent effort to further press its case, the BOJ said that its own research had found very few cases worldwide where legislation of this type applied or extended to central banks.

The bank said its recommendation that information be released only with the consent of the governor or the minister of finance is in keeping with the position as it currently obtains under the Bank of Jamaica Act. "In this way, the objectives of the Act can be married with the broader purposes of the central bank and any necessary permissions sought as required," the submission added.

The bank also suggested that correspondence between the minister responsible for its affairs and the bank's governor and board should be specifically exempted.

"Failure to so exempt this type of document could seriously affect the proper execution by the minister and the governor of their respective roles and functions under the BOJ Act," the bank said.

The submission also supported a call for the renaming of the Act to the Access to Official Documents Act "so as to avoid any misconception by the public that they are entitled to information whether obtained verbally or through private in-house correspondence in the form of, say inter-office memos and amended drafts".

The idea of a name change was first raised by Whiteman earlier this year. The aim, he said, was to reflect the fact that the Act was about access to official documents and not merely access to information in a general sense.

"Information can be gleaned from websites, from the telephone... that is not what the Act is designed for," Whiteman said in an interview with JIS News. "It is designed to give people access to documents so that they can see for themselves what the source document says or hear what the recording has on it."

The intent, he added, was to ensure that the Act satisfied the purposes for which it was created.

The BOJ, in its submission, argued that a name change would capture the nature, spirit and intent of the Act and would reduce the influx of applications by the public for voluminous information, an issue that was raised last month by public servants responsible for servicing requests made under the Act.

To solve the problem, the civil servants asked the Joint Select Committee to amend the Act to include a provision giving them authority to refuse requests that are excessive and bulky.

balfordh@jamaicaobserver.com

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