The Government received a total of 1 964 requests for information under the Code on Access to Information in the fourth quarter of 2019, a spokesman for the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau said today (June 30).
 
     The total number of requests received since the introduction of the Code in March 1995 and up to the end of December 2019 has amounted to 77 851. Of these, 4 508 requests were subsequently withdrawn by the requestors and 3 865 requests covered cases in which the bureaux/departments concerned did not hold the requested information or cannot confirm or deny the existence of information. As at December 31, 2019, 334 requests were still being processed by bureaux/departments.

     Among the 69 144 requests which covered information held by bureaux/departments and which the bureaux/departments had responded to, 66 963 requests (96.8 per cent) were met, either in full (65 193 requests) or in part (1 770 requests), and 2 181 requests (3.2 per cent) were refused.

     Any member of the public who is dissatisfied with the response of a bureau/department under the Code may request that the matter be reviewed. He or she may also lodge a complaint with the Ombudsman.

     In the fourth quarter of 2019, the Ombudsman received 37 complaints relating to requests for information. In this quarter, the Ombudsman concluded 12 complaints, among which five were substantiated, two were partially substantiated, three were settled after inquiries by the Ombudsman, and two were not pursued by the Ombudsman or were outside the Ombudsman's jurisdiction. As at December 31, 2019, the Ombudsman's investigations on 47 complaints were ongoing.

     "The Code has provided an effective framework for the public to seek access to information held by the Government," the spokesman said.

Ends/Tuesday, June 30, 2020
Issued at HKT 15:00

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