INFORMATION PORTAL: A white-collar worker seeks information on the official website of the Central Government of China (XINHUA)

China's Ministry of Finance published its detailed 2009 budget of the Central Government on its website for the first time on March 20, following the new Regulations on the Disclosure of Government Information.

The regulations, enacted on May 1, 2008, after 10 years of preparation, were seen as a milestone in guaranteeing the citizens' right to access government information. Among other things, the rules order each administrative organ to annually and publicly report its government information disclosure performance before March 31 every year.

Zhang Tong, Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Finance, said the ministry would work to be more open, taking questions concerning citizens and gradually releasing more information.

Legal guarantees

During the 30 years of building the market economy under reform and opening-up policies, China has gradually realized the importance of balancing individuals' rights with the government's power. During that time, people began to consider modernizing the laws concerning information openness and so-called sunshine laws, which mandate the government's responsibilities to open certain records in the public interests.

Information openness is a basic requirement for creating a sunshine government. In 2004, the State Council distributed the Implementation Outlines for the Overall Pushing Forward of the Administration by Law, which regarded the publication of administrative decisions, policies and other governmental information as important to promote the administration by law. The legal guarantees to build government by law are engendered by the Regulations on the Disclosure of Government Information, said Mo Yuchuan, a law professor at Renmin University of China.

According to Mo, sunshine legislation originated at the local government level in China.

In November 2002, the Guangzhou Municipal Government released regulations that required its departments to be more open to information disclosure. On January 1, 2003, the regulation took effect as China's first rule concerning government information disclosure. Over the following years, 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities created a host of systems to disclose information.

Then on January 1, 2006, the Central Government launched its website at www.gov.cn. Now more than 80 percent of governments and departments above county level have opened websites by which citizens can get information formerly unavailable to them.

According to Zhou Hanhua, an researcher at the Institute of Law under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Regulations on the Disclosure of Government Information ushered in a huge shock to China. With their release, he said, government transparency was no longer considered a favor from the government to the citizens, but a duty and statutory obligation whose implementation was overseen by the courts.

"This will be a revolution to the methods and concept of government," said Zhou. The regulations would also amount to a legal guarantee to build transparency throughout government.

Releasing what?

According to the regulations, government information is defined as information that administrative organs generate or acquire during the process of performing their duties. The rules also cover the range of government information to be made public, release procedures, dispute resolution and performance supervision.

Governments are required to take the initiative when releasing information which "affects the immediate interests of individuals and groups" or which "ought to be widely known and demands public participation." Information subject to this category labeled as "proactive dissemination" includes the government's plans for handling emergencies, government spending, specific fees for public services and the results of investigations into environmental protection, public health and food safety.