Right to Information Guide for Myanmar constitution, such as information commissions, and any other bodies, including companies and other private entities, which are funded by the State or which undertake public functions. The law should set out clear procedures for how requests for information may be made and processed. This is fundamental to the successful functioning of the system. As part of this, the law should make it easy to make a request for information. The other part is that strict rules should be established for responding to requests. The following are the key procedural rules that should be included in a right to information law: ! Requesters should not be required to provide reasons for their requests. ! It should be simple to make a request, which should be not be restricted to a single means of communication (including electronically). A request should only be required to contain a clear description of the information sought and some form of address to deliver the information to the requester. ! Public officials should be required to provide assistance to help requesters where they need it either to formulate their requests or to submit a request in writing due to special needs, for example because they are illiterate or disabled. ! Requesters should be provided with a receipt or acknowledgement upon lodging a request within a reasonable timeframe, which should not exceed five working days. ! There should be clear rules for cases where a public authority does not have the requested information, including a requirement to inform the requester that the information is not held and to transfer the request to another public authority where the first public authority knows of another one which has the information. ! Public authorities should be required to comply with requesters’ preferences regarding how they access information (for example obtaining a paper or electronic copy, inspecting documents, etc.), subject only to clear and limited overrides (for example to protect a record). ! Public authorities should be required to respond to requests as soon as possible and in any case within clear and reasonable maximum timelines, ideally 10 days. There should also be clear limits on timeline extensions (also 10-15 days or a maximum of 20 days). ! It should be free to file requests and there should be clear and centrally set rules relating to fees, with these being limited to the cost of reproducing and sending the information (i.e. costs should be limited to photocopying/printing and mailing fees). As such, inspection of documents and electronic copies should be free. Fee waivers should be established for impecunious requesters. ! There should be no limitations on or charges for reuse of information received from public authorities, except where a third party (which is not a public authority) holds a legally-protected copyright over the information. 3. Exceptions to the right to information The Centre for Law and Democracy is a non-profit human rights organisation working internationally to provide legal expertise on foundational rights for democracy. 6