Government Restricts Brazil's Freedom Of Information Law
A decree signed by acting president changes rules regarding which government employees can request secrecy
Jan.25.2019 5:52PM
BRASÍLIA
A decree signed by acting president Hamilton Mourão changed the rules regarding the Law of Information Access (LAI, Brazil's version f the Freedom of Information Act). Now the law allows that government officers with temporary contracts to classify internal information as ultrasecret and secret - denominations that carry a secrecy period of 25 and 15 years, respectively.
The decree, which was made official on Thursday (24th), increases the number of cabinet positions who have this type of clearance. Previously, only the president, vice-president, state ministers, Armed Forces commanders and heads of permanent diplomatic missions had this kind of power.
The new decree enables all civil servants who have management positions and earn around R$ 17,000 (US$ 4.350) per month. There are 206 positions in the current administration.
Also, it will be possible to delegate powers to give secrecy to any document to heads of federal agencies, foundations, public companies and mixed economy societies.
More:
https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/brazil/2019/01/government-restricts-brazils-freedom-of-information-law.shtml?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsen
LBN:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142252979
