Curtain rose yet uncertainess remains:
Regulation on the Disclosure of Government Information comes into effect

On 1st May 2008 finally came into force China’s "Regulation on the Disclosure of Government Information", after more than 12 months’ preparation.

It is a long-awaited and exciting date for most FOI-advocates as well as common people in great need of government information closely related to their vital interest. From this moment on, with the curtain raised and the stage set, the mechanism of transparency operates, bringing the government under public supervision of its determination to keep the promise.

The regulation undoubtedly seeks to reorient a bulky bureaucracy ruling vast territory and huge population to open its information for inspection. The task is no doubt arduous in terms of workload, given the weary history of secretive governance, and complex in terms of organizational transformation, given the rigidness of bureaucratic apparatus. Clear about the difficulty, the General Office of the State Council, the organ legally responsible to oversee the nationwide operation of the regulation, issued pointed directions to local governments emphasizing the establishment of tunnels for information dissemination and organs in charge of implementation. After the "Notice of Good Preparation for the Implementation of the Regulation […]" circulated on 4 August 2007, it issued "Opinions on Issues concerning the application of the Regulation […]" on 30 April 2008, which implies policy priority and deserves further study.

Since the promulgation of the Regulation, departments or bureaux under the central government, as well as local governments, have taken steps in passing new legal norms and amending existing provisions to promote transparency. By now, 6 central organs have issued or revised departmental measurements on implementing information disclosure (Ministry of Commerce, State Power Regulatory Commission, State Administration of Environmental Protection, General Administration of Customs, State Administration of Intellectual Property, State Administration of Taxation). 11 provincial-level government have issued local rules on government openness (上海 Shanghai, 湖北 Hubei,  重庆 Chongqing, 吉林 Jilin, 河北 Hebei, 海南 Hainan, 陕西 Shaanxi, 辽宁 Liaoning,  黑龙江 Heilongjiang, 江苏 Jiangsu, 四川 Sichuan [content of link only in Chinese]) and the people’s congress of Guangdong Province (广东) enacted similar legislation. More than 40 municipal-level governments promulgated rules of the same kind...

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