Access to ITU information /
documents
KEY CONCEPTS
Definition: Access
• In the work of the Dedicated Group, “access”
refers to:
– The right of members of the public to locate and
retrieve information for use (consultation or
reference)
– The right of private individuals to request and
receive information from the Organization
Decisions required
• What types of information could/should be
made available to the public?
• What types of information should not be
made available to the public? Why not?
• May wish to consider when access
could/should be provided.
Access could vary over time
Early proposals,
preliminary drafts,
working papers
Review, revision, final
drafts
Development,
discussion/negotiation,
testing
Decisions, approvals,
outcome documents
• Issue: Which stages of the process should be open to
public access? When should access be provided?
Different forms, different purposes
• The same information may exist in different
forms at different times for different purposes.
It may be important to consider the purpose:
– Background document for discussion (restricted
access)
– Report of discussions (may be available to the
public?)
– Publication of outcome (for public dissemination)
What the discussion is NOT about
• It is essential to first decide what types of
information could/should be made available
to the public.
• Issues of implementation and procedure can
only be addressed later
– Cost of access
– Method(s) of access
Right vs Cost
• Information may be made available to the
public at a cost or free of charge
– For example, ITU produces a wide variety of
publications for sale
• Must not confuse discussions about providing
the right to access types of information with
discussions about providing cost-free access to
information
Availability of information
• How information is made available is a separate
issue from the right to access
• Public access may be provided in many ways:
– Information routinely posted on ITU website
– Publications for sale
– Information provided upon request (e.g., for
documents not regularly posted on the website; for
historic documents only available in paper format)