Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Ruling in the ACCG-IAPN-PNG FOIA Case

The DC Circuit has affirmed in part and reversed in part the decision of the District Court in the ACCG-IAPN-PNG FOIA case. See
http://www.accg.us/News/Item/U_S_Appellate_Court_rules_on_FOIA_case.aspx

Overall, the ruling supports the Department of State's efforts to keep its decision making secret from the public.-- this despite the Obama Administration's claims that it is the "most transparent" in history. Moreover, as we have seen from the recent CPRI seminar, such secrecy has been used to cover up results oriented short cuts designed to ensure the broadest application of import restrictions on cultural goods. Any benefits confidentiality brings to decision making should never come at the expense of encouraging evasion of legal process.

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