FGV’s Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration (EBAPE), in partnership with the Office of the Federal Controller General (CGU), will host the event ‘Five years of the Access to Information Law (LAI) – Advances and Challenges,’ on May 16, at 9 a.m. During the meeting, officials, scholars, and experts will assess the impact of the law on Brazilian public transparency cases.

Discussions will include the Federal Ombudsman General, Gilberto Waller Júnior, who will speak about ‘The ombudsman as an instrument of social engagement and the Access to Information Law’. The debate will then move on with the participation of Fabio Valgas, Superintendent of the CGU-Regional/RJ, presenting a summary of the five years of the Information Access Act in the federal government.

Next, EBAPE professor and FGV’s Public Transparency Program coordinator, Gregory Michener, will present the working paper ‘Transparency and Opacity in Brazil: five years of the Public Access to Information Law’. This panel will be moderated by EBAPE Professor Fernando Guilherme Tenório. 

According to Professor Gregory Michener, access to information laws – common to several countries – are the current pillars of modern democracies, as they represent the government’s accountability to society. As the professor points out, the release of this data keeps citizens better informed and promotes a more inclusive democracy.

The coordinator of FGV’s Public Transparency Program adds that the Brazilian Information Access Act yielded many benefits, but there is still a long way to go to provide visibility to public actions, especially at the municipal and state levels. 

“In the federal government, the Access to Information Law is working at the same level or even better than in other countries. We still have some problems in the federal Executive branch, but we have a response rate of 70-85%, which is a very good rate. In the states and municipalities, however, there is still a lot of room to improve,” said the EBAPE professor. 

Go to the website for more information, in Portuguese, and to register.