Título Primero

This law has as its object:

1.To guarantee to every interested person, without any discrimination, the right to request and to have access to public information in possession of the authorities and obligated subjects under this law;

2.To guarantee to every natural person the right to know and to protect the personal data concerning them recorded in state files, as well as updates thereto;

3.To guarantee the transparency of the public administration and of the obligated subjects and the right of every person to have free access to public information;

4.To establish as mandatory the principle of maximum publicity and transparency in the public administration and for the obligated subjects under this law;

5.To establish, by way of exception and on a limitative basis, the cases in which access to public information is restricted;

6.To promote by the State accountability to the governed, so that they may audit the performance of the public administration;

7.To guarantee that every person has access to the acts of the public administration.

This law is of public order, of national interest and of social utility; it establishes the norms and procedures to guarantee to every person, natural or juridical, access to the information or acts of the public administration found in archives, index cards, registries, database, data bank or any other form of data storage found in State bodies, municipalities, autonomous and decentralized institutions and private entities that receive, invest or administer public funds, including trusts constituted with public funds, public works or services subject to concession or administration.

This law is based on the principles of:

1)Maximum publicity;

2)Transparency in the management and execution of public resources and acts of the public administration;

3)Gratuity in access to public information;

4)Simplicity and celerity of procedure.

All information related to the right of free access to information contained in records, archives, files, banks, or any other form of storage of public information, in the custody, deposit or administration of the obligated subjects, shall be governed by what is established in the Political Constitution of the Republic of Guatemala and this law.

It is any natural person or legal person, public or private, who has the right to request, have access to and obtain the public information requested in accordance with the provisions of this law.

It is any natural or legal person, public or private, national or international of any nature, institution or entity of the State, agency, organ, entity, dependency, institution and any other that handles, administers or executes public resources, State property, or acts of public administration in general, that is obliged to provide the public information requested of it, among which the following list is included, which is illustrative and not exhaustive:

1.Executive Branch, all its dependencies, centralized, decentralized and autonomous entities;

2.Legislative Branch and all the dependencies comprising it;

3.Judicial Branch and all the dependencies comprising it;

4.All centralized, decentralized and autonomous entities;

5.Constitutional Court;

6.Supreme Electoral Tribunal;

7.Office of the Comptroller General of Accounts;

8.Public Prosecutor's Office;

9.Office of the Attorney General of the Nation;

10.Human Rights Ombudsman;

11.Institute of Criminal Public Defense;

12.National Institute of Forensic Sciences of Guatemala;

13.National Register of Persons;

14.Municipal Development Institute;

15.Guatemalan Institute of Social Security;

16.Military Welfare Institute;

17.Departmental Governorships;

18.Municipalities;

19.Urban and Rural Development Councils;

20.Bank of Guatemala;

21.Monetary Board;

22.Superintendency of Banks;

23.Autonomous Sports Confederation of Guatemala, and the national and departmental sports federations and associations comprising it;

24.Guatemalan Olympic Committee;

25.University of San Carlos of Guatemala;

26.Superintendency of Tax Administration;

27.Superintendency of Telecommunications;

28.State enterprises and private entities that exercise public functions;

29.Non-Governmental Organizations, foundations and associations that receive, administer or execute public funds;

30.All entities of any nature that have as a source of income, whether in whole or in part, resources, subsidies or contributions from the State;

31.The private companies to which the exploitation of State property has been granted by means of permit, license, concession or any other contractual form;

32.International public or private agencies and entities that receive, handle or administer public funds or resources;

33.The beneficiaries of trusts established or administered with public funds or funds derived from loans, international agreements or treaties signed by the Republic of Guatemala;

34.The natural or legal persons of any nature that receive, handle or administer public funds or resources for any reason, including so-called private funds or similar funds;

35.Committees, boards of trustees, associations authorized by law for the collection and management of funds for public purposes and social benefit, that receive contributions or donations from the State.

In cases where specific laws regulate or establish reservations or guarantees of confidentiality, the same shall be observed for the application of this law.

Obligated subjects shall update their information within a time limit of no more than thirty days after a change occurs.

The interpretation of this law shall be carried out in strict adherence to what is provided in the Political Constitution of the Republic of Guatemala, the Law of the Judicial Branch, the international treaties and agreements ratified by the State of Guatemala, the principle of maximum publicity prevailing at all times.

The provisions of this law shall be interpreted in such a manner as to ensure the adequate protection of the rights recognized therein and the effective functioning of its guarantees and defenses.

For the purposes of this law, the following shall be understood by:

1.Personal data: That relating to any information concerning identified or identifiable natural persons.

2.Sensitive data or sensitive personal data: Such personal data that refers to the physical or moral characteristics of persons or to facts or circumstances of their private life or activity, such as personal habits, racial origin, ethnic origin, political ideologies and opinions, religious beliefs or convictions, physical or psychic health conditions, sexual preference or life, moral and family situation or other intimate matters of a similar nature.

3.Right of access to public information: The right that every person has to have access to the information generated, administered or in the possession of the obligated subjects described in this law, under the terms and conditions thereof.

4.Habeas data: It is the guarantee that every person has to exercise the right to know what is recorded concerning them in files, cards, registers or any other form of public registers, and the purpose to which this information is devoted, as well as to its protection, correction, rectification or updating. Non-identifiable impersonal data, such as that of a demographic nature collected to maintain statistics, is not subject to the habeas data or personal-data protection regime of this law.

5.Confidential information: It is all information in the possession of the obligated subjects which by constitutional mandate, or express provision of a law has restricted access, or has been delivered by individual or juridical persons under guarantee of confidentiality.

6.Public information: It is the information in the possession of the obligated subjects contained in files, reports, studies, records, decisions, official letters, correspondence, accords, directives, guidelines, circulars, contracts, agreements, instructions, notes, memoranda, statistics or any other register that documents the exercise of the powers or the activity of the obligated subjects and their public servants, regardless of its source or date of preparation. The documents may be in any medium, whether written, printed, audio, visual, electronic, computer or holographic, and which is not confidential nor classified as temporarily reserved.

7.Reserved information: It is the public information whose access is temporarily restricted by express provision of a law, or has been classified as such, following the procedure established in this law.

8.Maximum publicity: It is the principle that all information in the possession of any obligated subject is public. It may not be reserved nor limited except by constitutional or legal provision.

9.National security: These are all those matters that are part of the State policy to preserve the physical integrity of the nation and its territory in order to protect all the elements that make up the State from any aggression produced by foreign or national belligerent groups, and those that refer to the survival of the Nation-State against other States.

Obligated Subjects shall maintain, updated and available, at all times, in accordance with their functions and at the disposal of any interested person, at a minimum, the following information, which may be consulted directly or through the electronic portals of each obligated subject:

1.Organic structure and functions of each of the dependencies and departments, including its regulatory framework;

2.Address and telephones of the entity and of all the dependencies that comprise it;

3.Directory of employees and public servants, including telephone numbers and official non-private electronic mail addresses; obligated subjects are exempt from this obligation when the national security system, criminal investigation and State intelligence are put at risk;

4.Number and name of public officials, public servants, employees and advisors who work in the obligated subject and all its dependencies, including wages corresponding to each position, fees, per diems, bonuses, travel allowances or any other economic remuneration they receive on any basis. Obligated subjects are exempt from this obligation when the national security system, criminal investigation and State intelligence are put at risk;

5.The mission and objectives of the institution, its annual operating plan and the results obtained in compliance therewith;

6.Procedure manuals, both administrative and operational;

7.Information on the budget of income and expenditures assigned for each fiscal year; the programs whose preparation and/or execution are under its charge and all modifications made thereto, including internal and external transfers;

8.Monthly reports on budgetary execution for all line items and for all units, both operational and administrative, of the entity;

9.Detailed information on deposits constituted with public funds derived from ordinary and extraordinary income, taxes, privative funds, loans and donations;

10.Information related to quotation and bidding proceedings for the acquisition of property used for education, health, security, rural development programs and all others that have among their characteristics the delivery of such property to direct or indirect beneficiaries, indicating quantities, unit prices, amounts, corresponding budget line items, characteristics of suppliers, details of the award proceedings and the content of the contracts;

11.Information on contracting of all property and services used by the obligated subjects, identifying amounts, unit prices, costs, corresponding budget line items, characteristics of suppliers, details of the award proceedings and the content of the contracts;

12.List of national and international travel authorized by the obligated subjects and financed with public funds, whether for public officials or for any other person, including objectives of the travel, personnel authorized to travel, destination and costs, both for air tickets and for travel allowances;

13.Information related to the inventory of movable property and immovable property held by each of the subjects obligated under this law for the fulfillment of their attributions;

14.Information on maintenance contracts for equipment, vehicles, immovable property, plants and installations of all obligated subjects, including amount and term of the contract and supplier information;

15.Amounts assigned, access criteria and rolls of beneficiaries of subsidy, scholarship or transfer programs granted with public funds;

16.Information related to contracts, licenses or concessions for the usufruct or exploitation of State property;

17.Lists of companies prequalified for the execution of public works, sale of property and provision of services of any nature, including information related to corporate name, authorized capital and the information corresponding to the line item for which they were prequalified;

18.List of works in execution or executed totally or partially with public funds, or with resources from loans granted to any of the State entities, indicating the exact location, total cost of the work, source of financing, time of execution, beneficiaries, executing company or entity, name of the public official responsible for the work, content and specifications of the corresponding contract;

19.Lease contracts for immovable property, equipment, machinery or any other property or service, specifying the characteristics thereof, reasons for the lease, general data of the lessee, amount and term of the contracts;

20.Information on all contracting carried out through quotation and bidding proceedings and their respective contracts, identifying the operation number corresponding to the electronic systems for the registration of contracting of property or services, date of award, supplier name, awarded amount, term of the contract and approval date of the respective contract;

21.Total destination of the expenditure of resources of trusts constituted with public funds, including information related to quotations or bidding carried out for the execution of such resources and administrative and operating expenses of the trust;

22.List of direct purchases made by the dependencies of the obligated subjects;

23.Final reports of governmental or private audits performed on the obligated subjects, in accordance with the corresponding review periods;

24.In the case of public or private entities of international character that manage or administer public funds, they shall make public the mandatory information contained in the above numerals, related solely to the purchases and contracting carried out with such funds;

25.In the case of non-governmental entities or entities of private character that manage or administer public funds, they must make public the mandatory information contained in the above numerals, related solely to the purchases and contracting carried out with such funds;

26.Those in charge of the archives of each of the obligated subjects shall publish, at least once a year, and through the Diario de Centro América, a report on: the functioning and purpose of the archive, its recording systems and categories of information, procedures and facilities for access to the archive;

27.Index of information duly classified in accordance with this law;

28.State entities and institutions shall maintain an updated report on data related to the sociolinguistic affiliation of users of their services, for the purpose of adapting the provision thereof;

29.Any other information that is useful or relevant to fulfill the purposes and objectives of this law.

The Executive Branch, in addition to the public information on its own initiative contained in this law, must make public at a minimum the following:

1.The execution of its budget allocated by ministry, vice-ministry, general directorates and decentralized institutions;

2.The list of advisors, with their respective remuneration of each of the institutions mentioned in the preceding numeral,

3.The report of expenses and per diems of the delegations of each institution abroad, as well as the destination, objectives and achievements attained.

The Judicial Branch, in addition to the public information on its own initiative contained in this law, shall make public at a minimum the following:

1.The conviction judgments rendered with the authority of res judicata for human rights crimes and crimes against humanity;

2.The conviction judgments with the authority of res judicata, for crimes in cases of management of public funds;

3.The conviction judgments with the authority of res judicata for crimes committed by public officials and public employees;

4.The execution of its budget allocated to the Supreme Court of Justice, Appeals Chambers, First Instance Execution and Sentencing tribunals, and Peace Trial Courts throughout the country;

5.The list of advisors with their respective remunerations for each of the tribunals mentioned in the preceding numeral;

6.The report on expenses and per diems of the delegations of each institution outside the country, as well as the destination, objectives and achievements attained.

The Congress of the Republic of Guatemala, in addition to the public information on its own initiative contained in this law, must make public, at a minimum, the following:

1.The execution of its budget allocated by legislative bloc and committee;

2.The list of advisors and assistants of the Board of Directors, legislative blocs, caucuses, committees and deputies with their respective remunerations;

3.The draft agenda for ordinary and extraordinary sessions in the plenary and committees, twenty-four hours in advance;

4.Bills;

5.The opinions issued by each of the committees on the bills;

6.Decrees;

7.Agreements;

8.Resolutive points;

9.Decisions;

10.Records of the sessions of the working committees; and

11.Journal of Plenary Sessions.

Non-governmental organizations, foundations, associations and other entities of a private nature that administer or execute public resources, or that carry out public collections, in addition to the public information proactively (ex officio) contained in this law, must make the following public:

1.General data of the organization;

2.Agreement or decision of the authority that authorizes them;

3.Members of the board of directors;

4.Bylaws;

5.Objectives; and

6.Mission and vision;

Interested parties shall bear criminal and civil liability for the use, handling or dissemination of the public information to which they have access, in accordance with this law and other applicable laws.

Every person has the right to have access to public information in the possession of the obligated subjects, when requested in accordance with the provisions of this law.

The subjects shall take all security, care and preservation measures with respect to the documents, elements or files of any nature, property of the obligated subject, that are shown to them or placed at their disposal in personal consultation; as well as bring to the knowledge of the competent authority any destruction, impairment or improper use thereof by any person.

Access to public information shall be free of charge, for purposes of analysis and consultation in the offices of the obligated subject. If the interested party requests the obtaining of copies, written reproductions or by electronic means, it shall be done in accordance with that established in the present law.

Consultation of public information shall be governed by the principle of simplicity and gratuity. Only the expenses of reproduction of the information shall be charged. The reproduction of the information shall entitle the State to make the charge for an amount that in no case shall be higher than market costs and that may not exceed the costs necessary for the reproduction of the information.

The obligated subjects shall strive to reduce to the maximum the costs of delivery of information, permitting direct consultation thereof or that the private individual deliver the materials for its reproduction; when said materials are not provided the value thereof shall be charged.

That relating to certifications and secretarial copies shall be regulated in accordance with the Law of the Judicial Branch.

The head of each obligated subject must designate the public servant, employee or internal body that shall serve as the Information Unit, having a liaison in all offices or dependencies that the obligated subject has located at the national level.

The Information Units shall be in charge of:

1.Receiving and processing requests for access to public information;

2.Guiding interested persons in the formulation of public information requests;

3.Providing for consultation the public information requested by interested persons or notifying denial of access thereto, stating the reasons for such denial;

4.Issuing a simple or certified copy of the requested public information, provided it is found in the archives of the obligated subject;

5.Coordinating, organizing, administering, safeguarding and systematizing the archives containing the public information under their charge, at all times respecting the legislation on the matter; and

6.Any other obligations set forth by this law.

Access to public information shall be limited in accordance with what is established in the Political Constitution of the Republic of Guatemala, that which by express provision of a law is considered confidential, information classified as reserved in accordance with this law, and those which pursuant to international treaties or agreements ratified by the State of Guatemala are subject to a reservation clause.

For purposes of this law, the following shall be considered confidential information:

1.That expressly defined in Article twenty-four of the Political Constitution of the Republic of Guatemala;

2.That expressly defined as confidential in the Law on Banks and Financial Groups;

3.Information classified as professional secrecy;

4.That which by express provision of a law is considered confidential;

5.Sensitive data or sensitive personal data, which may only be known by the holder of the right;

6.Information of private individuals received by the obligated subject under guarantee of confidentiality.

The basis for the confidential classification shall be made known to the private individual when deciding, in the negative sense or partial access, any request for information, allowing access to those parts of the information that were not considered confidential.

For the purposes of this law, the following shall be considered reserved information:

1.The information related to military matters classified as national security;

2.The information related to diplomatic matters, classified as national security;

3.The information related to intellectual property, industrial property, patents or trademarks in the possession of the authorities; the provisions of the agreements or international treaties ratified by the Republic of Guatemala and other laws on the matter shall apply;

4.When information whose dissemination may cause serious prejudice or harm to the activities of investigation, prevention or prosecution of crimes, that related to State intelligence processes or to the administration of justice;

5.Judicial case files while they have not become final, in accordance with special laws;

6.The information whose dissemination before the adoption of the relevant measure, decision or resolution may harm the economic, financial or monetary stability of the country, as well as that related to supervision and inspection aspects by the Superintendency of Banks;

7.The information defined as reserved in the Law on the Comprehensive Protection of Children and Adolescents;

8.The analyses provided to the President of the Republic aimed at providing the defense and security of the nation as well as the preservation of public order. The right to access the public information on which the analysis was based may be exercised before the bodies or entities having it in their possession;

9.That determined as reserved by virtue of another law.

In no case may information relating to investigations of violations of fundamental human rights or crimes against humanity be classified as confidential or reserved.

The classification of reserved information shall be made by decision of the highest authority of the obligated entity, which must be published in the Official Gazette and must indicate the following:

1.The source of the information;

2.The basis on which it is classified;

3.The parts of the documents that are reserved;

4.The time limit of the reservation which shall not exceed seven years; and,

5.The name of the authority responsible for its preservation.

Those decisions that classify information as confidential or reserved are void if they do not meet the requirements established in this law. The appeal for review shall be admissible.

In the event that the authority provides grounds for the classification as reserved or confidential, the information must fully demonstrate compliance with the following three requirements:

1.That the information legitimately falls within one of the exception cases provided for in this law;

2.That the release of the information in question may effectively threaten the interest protected by the law; and,

3.That the prejudice or harm that may be produced by the release of the information is greater than the public interest in knowing the information in question.

Public information classified as reserved, in accordance with this law, shall cease to have such character when any of these situations occurs:

1.That the time limit of its reservation has elapsed, which shall not be greater than seven years counted from the date of its classification;

2.The reasons that justified its classification as reserved public information cease to exist; or

3.By decision of the jurisdictional body or competent judicial authority.

When the causes that gave rise to the classification of reserved information persist, in accordance with this law, the obligated subjects may make the declaration of extension of the time limit of reservation for up to five more years, without the total classification time exceeding twelve years. In these cases the appeal for review shall be admissible.

Information classified as reserved or confidential must be made available to the authorities in charge of the prosecution and administration of justice when they so request, by means of a judicial order, provided that it is indispensable and necessary in judicial proceedings.

Obligated subjects shall be responsible for personal data and, in relation thereto, shall:

1.Adopt appropriate procedures to receive and respond to requests for access and correction of data submitted by the holders thereof or their legal representatives, as well as train public servants and publicize information on their policies regarding the protection of such data;

2.Manage personal data only when such data are adequate, relevant and not excessive in relation to the purposes for which they were obtained;

3.Make available to the natural person, from the moment at which personal data are collected, the document establishing the purposes for their processing;

4.Endeavor to ensure that personal data are accurate and up to date;

5.Adopt the necessary measures to guarantee security, and where applicable confidentiality or reserve status, of personal data and to prevent their alteration, loss, transmission and unauthorized access.

Active subjects shall not use the information obtained for commercial purposes, except with the express authorization of the holder of the information.

Obligated subjects shall not disseminate, distribute, or commercialize the personal data contained in the information systems developed in the exercise of their functions, unless the express written consent of the individuals to whom the information refers has been given. The State shall oversee that, where express consent is granted, no defect of will is incurred at any time to the detriment of the governed person, clearly explaining to him the consequences of his acts.

The commercialization by any means of sensitive data or sensitive personal data is expressly prohibited.

The consent of the holder of the information shall not be required to provide personal data in the following cases:

1.Those necessary for statistical, scientific or general-interest reasons provided for in law, following a procedure by which the personal data cannot be associated with the individual to whom they refer;

2.When they are transmitted between obligated subjects or between dependencies and entities of the State, provided that the data are used for the exercise of their own powers;

3.When there is a judicial order;

4.Those established in this law;

5.Those contained in public registries;

6.In the other cases established by the laws.

In no case may data banks or files with sensitive data or sensitive personal data be created, unless they are used for the institution's own service and care.

Without prejudice to the provisions of other laws, only the holders of the information or their legal representatives may request it, upon prior accreditation, that they be provided with the personal data contained in their files or information system. This information must be delivered by the obligated subject within the ten working days following, counted from the filing of the request, in a format comprehensible to the requester, or in the same manner must communicate in writing to the requester that the personal data system does not contain those referring to the requester.

The data subjects or their legal representatives may request, upon prior accreditation, that their personal data contained in any information system be modified. For such purpose, the interested party must submit a request for modifications, in which they indicate the personal data system, specify the modifications they wish to make and provide the documentation supporting their request. The obligated subject must deliver to the applicant, within a time limit of no more than thirty working days from the filing of the request, a decision recording the modifications or, alternatively, informing them in a reasoned manner of the reasons why such modifications did not proceed.

Against the refusal to deliver or correct personal data, the filing of the review appeal provided for in this law shall proceed.

Public information located and locatable in administrative files shall not be destroyed, altered, modified, mutilated or concealed by determination of the public servants who produce, process, administer, archive and safeguard it, unless acts in that regard form part of the exercise of the public function and are legally justified.

Non-compliance with this rule shall be sanctioned in accordance with this law and other applicable laws.

With regard to the information, documents and records that form part of the administrative archives, they shall in no case be destroyed, altered or modified without justification. The public servants who fail to comply with this and the preceding article of this law may be dismissed from their office and be subject to what is provided for in Articles 418 Abuse of Authority and 419 Breach of Duties of the Criminal Code in force. In the case of private individuals who assist, provoke or incite, directly or indirectly, the destruction, alteration or modification of historical archives, the crime of depredation of the national patrimony, regulated in the Criminal Code, shall apply.