The government is preparing a law to restrict access to public information in Cuba.

The Cuban regime is preparing a law to further restrict access to public information on the island, the National Assembly of People's Power (ANPP) reported on Tuesday.

The bill for the "Transparency and Access to Public Information" will be discussed by the deputies of the National Assembly of People's Power and is available on the Parliament's website at the following link.

The rule "seeks to regulate transparency and the right of access to public information; as well as establishes the obligations that its responsible parties must fulfill," reported the official press.

While the preliminary draft acknowledges that "the Constitution of the Republic provides that all persons have the right to request and receive truthful, objective, and timely information from the State, and to access information generated by State entities," it emphasizes that "it is necessary to implement mechanisms to guarantee public access to information from the Public Administration; and the protection of information that jeopardizes national defense and security and the integrity of individuals, generated by the State, the Government, and other obligated subjects."

After arguing that "it is necessary to approve a regulatory provision that defines the obligated subjects and guarantees the effective fulfillment of their obligation," article 21 of the draft mentions the "exceptions to access to public information."

In this regard, it is stated that exceptions are considered to be "classified or limited information and those circumstances, facts, or attributes that, if disclosed, would constitute harm, danger, impact, or violation to: a) sovereignty, defense, and national security; b) personal data; c) a judicial or administrative procedure in process; d) intellectual property rights; e) confidentiality of commercial data; and f) the environment."

On the other hand, article 22.1 states that obligated entities carry out a harm test, so that only when the disclosure of the requested information poses a real risk to a protected interest will access to that information be restricted.

In addition, he explains that "the test of harm consists of demonstrating through an examination of advantages and risks in a given circumstance the weighing between the harm that the disclosure of certain information generates on rights and principles, against the benefit of disclosing that information."

Likewise, that it is "carried out by the obligated subject" and verifies compliance with the following aspects: "a) That the disclosure of the information does not represent a real, demonstrable, and identifiable risk to public interest or national defense and security; b) that its dissemination exceeds public interest; and c) that the decision made represents a greater benefit than the harm that its disclosure may cause".

According to the regime, the purpose of this law is to promote a culture of transparency in public administration, through the application of common methods for regulating institutional, patrimonial, and personal systems of document management and archives.

Cuban experts have reacted to the proposal of the National Assembly of People's Power.

Lawyer Eloy Viera pointed out that "the survival of totalitarian regimes is based, among other characteristics, on their opacity and on the ability to keep public information out of the reach of citizens. For this reason, the Cuban regime has handled with extreme caution any regulations related to transparency and the right of access to information."

In an article published in El Toque, it mentions that there is no overseeing body to ensure compliance with legislation, unlike in the case of Mexico, where the National Institute of Transparency exists; in Argentina, with the Public Access to Information Agency; or in Chile, which has a Transparency Council.

The oversight bodies are important because they are independent organizations from any state institution, they serve as mediators between these institutions and the citizenship, and ensure that the regulations regarding the right to access information and transparency are upheld. Oversight bodies are the ones that, for example, resolve complaints if an authority declares information requested by the public as exempt or secret.

However, the preliminary draft states that it will be the Citma the entity that will fulfill some of the functions of the guarantor bodies; however, it is an entity of the central administration of the State that is entrusted with the authority to "monitor" the entities obliged to provide public information, but the specific powers it may have are not defined.