The Swiss Law on Transparency: Much ado about nothing

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The Swiss Law on Transparency Much ado about
nothing?

• Sarah HolsenSwiss Graduate School of Public
  Administration

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Outline

• Introduction and background
• Swiss Law on Transparency (LTrans)
• Research questions and method
• Results
• Expectations
• Request numbers
• Changes
• Possible explanations

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FOI in Switzerland (LTrans)

• Passed December 2004 and in force July 2006
• Goals improve relationship between government
  and public replace administrative culture of
  secrecy with transparency
• Exemptions and limitations to access

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Questions and method

• Questions
• Has implementation of LTrans led to any changes
  in behavior or working practices of federal
  administrative staff? If so, to what extent?
• Method
• Interviews with 44 LTrans officers
• Survey of federal administrators
• 11 expert interviews

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Results - Expectations

• No concerns (50)
• Fears stemming from uncertainty (50)
• Request numbers and increased workload
• Disclosure of certain documents

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Request numbers
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Request numbers
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Request numbers
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Request numbers
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Request numbers
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Request numbers
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Request numbers
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Changes

• Fears put to rest
• Few to no changes to working practices
• Few to no changes to relationship between
  government and citizens
• Transparency has increased?
• Questions Why so few requests and so little
  change?

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Possible explanations

• Few requests due to
• Low awareness of LTrans
• Sufficient information provided by government
• Lack of opposition politics
• Requests to cantonal authorities
• High trust in government/low corruption
• Change occurred before LTrans
• Resistances to transparency exist

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Conclusions

• Impact of LTrans minimal
• Changes nearly non-existent
• Whether transparency or accountability have
  increased difficult to gauge
• Latter hard to measure
• Next step - survey of population about
  information needs and perceptions about
  government openness