The government information disclosure system first appeared in Sweden in northern Europe. As early as 1776, Sweden promulgated the Freedom of the Press Act, which gave ordinary citizens the right to request the courts and administrative organs to disclose relevant official documents. However, it is the United States that really takes the lead in standardizing the government information disclosure system. So far, more than 40 countries and regions in the world, such as Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Britain, South Korea and Japan, have formulated special laws on information disclosure. Looking at the legislative history of government information disclosure in various countries, we can get some useful enlightenment from it:
First, an internally coordinated legislative system.
Because the legalization of information disclosure involves the disclosure of government documents, meetings, electronic records and many other information carriers, as well as a series of problems such as the protection of citizens' privacy, state secrets and commercial secrets, it is quite difficult to formulate an all-encompassing information disclosure law, especially when a country's information disclosure reform has just started, it is almost impossible to formulate a single information disclosure code. The legislative experience of American information disclosure fully proves this point. Judging from the situation in the United States, the government information disclosure system in the United States consists of a series of laws. The Freedom of Information Act of the United States is the most representative and exemplary law in the law of government information disclosure, which stipulates the disclosure of government information by federal government agencies in the United States. In addition, the Advisory Committee Act promulgated by the United States 1972 stipulates that the organization, culture and meetings of the Advisory Committee of the federal administrative organs must be open. 1976 promulgated by the government in the sunshine act of the United States further stipulates that the meeting of the collegiate administrative organ must be open, and the public has the right to attend the meeting and obtain meeting information. 1974, the United States promulgated the Privacy Act to protect citizens' privacy from government agencies, control the behavior of administrative agencies in handling personal records, and protect individuals' right to consult their own files. The practice of the United States in legislating information disclosure step by step and eventually forming an internal harmonious legal system is undoubtedly worth learning from China.
Second, the legislative trend from part to whole.
On the surface, all countries in the world that have realized the legalization of information disclosure are marked by the enactment of special information disclosure laws by parliament. However, the experience of South Korea shows that it is a feasible legislative way to formulate corresponding regulations on information disclosure at the local level and unify legislation at the national level when the time is ripe. It is on the basis of summing up the experience of formulating laws and regulations in various places that the South Korean National Assembly has formulated an information disclosure law that will be implemented nationwide. Although the unified legislation at the central level has the advantages of high effectiveness and wide range of constraints, it needs many preconditions. If the time is not ripe, it will have certain negative effects to hastily formulate a unified national information disclosure law.
Third, the strong guarantee of the litigation mechanism.
Throughout the process of legalization of information disclosure in developed countries, an effective litigation mechanism is often an extremely important link in the reform of information disclosure. The experience of the United States provides strong evidence for this. In the United States, there are two kinds of litigation involving information disclosure: one is "freedom of information law litigation", that is, the public has the right to sue the court for the non-disclosure of government information and request the court to order the disclosure of government information; The second is "litigation against freedom of information law". The experience of the United States shows that a relatively perfect system of information disclosure litigation right has greatly promoted the legalization of information disclosure.