The International Maritime Organization has adopted a policy on access to information with exceptions that likely will prevent disclosure of documents about policies under consideration, internal investigations and IMO contracts.
Some of the exemptions are similar to those in national freedom of information laws and the access policies of other international organizations. However, other exemptions are more restrictive and appear to leave plenty of latitude for agency interpretation, particularly concerning documents that are part of the decision-making process.
The IMO policy follows a fairly standard approach in exemption “j” which exempts “internal inter-office or intra-office documents and other communications, including draft documents, if disclosure would undermine the Organization’s decision-making process.”
But the preceding exemption, “i,” which protects “information on IMO’s own internal deliberations and communications” does not include the test of whether disclosure would undermine the organization’s decision-making process. Similarly, exemption “k” flatly protects “pre-decisional information prepared by the Secretariat for use by officers of IMO organs in preparation for IMO meetings (i.e. briefs, etc.),” again without the “undermining” language.
Another IMO’s exemption, to prevent disclosure of “information covered by legal privilege,” goes beyond the standard formulation for covering attorney-client relationships. The IMO exemption also would protect information “related to individual investigations or inquiries,” a broader category.
An exemption concerning contracts appears to ensue that contracts will not be released. The policy exempts from disclosure “information containing contractual arrangements with contractors, suppliers, individual consultants, banks, insurance companies, etc.”
The IMO policy includes a 23-point section describing what the agency does disclose. Among these items are “Expression of interest and tenders (available on the IMO website);” and “Recipient and value contracts awarded over £50,000 (available on the IMO website).”
The policy allows, but does not require redaction, stating, “If a document contains both confidential information and non-confidential information, and if in IMO’s view it is consistent with the purpose of Part IV above, part of such document containing only non-confidential information may be made available to the public upon request.”
Exemptions with fairly standard FOI language include those protecting:
- “personally identifiable information, disclosure of which might violate the right to reputation, affect the privacy or endanger the safety or security of any individual”
- “commercial information, disclosure of which could harm either the financial interests of IMO or those of third parties involved, or which is covered by a confidentiality agreement,” and,
- “information, disclosure of which is likely to endanger the security of Member States or other stakeholders and partners of IMO” or “would seriously undermine those relations, or any process of policy dialogue with Member States or implementing partners.”
The access policy, the agency’s first, includes 11 categories of information “on which there will be restrictions on access.”
The policy was effective March 1.
Request letters may be sent by e-mail to info@imo.org, or by post to 4 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7SR.
An EYE survey of 27 UN agencies in December 2020 found that 14 of the 27 had freedom of information policies. The IMO’s action brings that number to 15. (See EYE article and updated spreadsheet. )
The IMO in recent years has taken several other steps toward greater transparency.
A change made in July 2018 allowed IMO members that submit documents in advance of IMO meetings, including committee meetings, to release them to the public. Also, the IMO Secretariat releases documents it submits to committees in advance of meetings unless the body to whom they are sent decides to restrict access. (See EYE report.) For other IMO stories, select the IMO category.
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