Título Tercero. Intervención del Procurador de los derechos humanos

Access to public information as a fundamental human right provided for in the Political Constitution of the Republic of Guatemala and the international treaties or agreements in this matter ratified by the State of Guatemala, shall be protected by the Human Rights Ombudsman under the terms of the Law of the Human Rights Commission of the Congress of the Republic and of the Human Rights Ombudsman, Decree Number 54-86 of the Congress of the Republic.

The Human Rights Ombudsman has the attributions in matters of the right of access to public information provided for in Articles 13, 14 and other applicable articles of the Law of the Human Rights Commission of the Congress of the Republic and of the Human Rights Ombudsman, Decree Number 54-86 of the Congress of the Republic.

Obligated subjects shall submit to the Human Rights Ombudsman a written report corresponding to the previous year, no later than before the end of the last business day of the following month of January. The report shall contain:

1.The number of requests made to the obligated subject in question and the type of information requested;

2.The outcome of each of the information requests;

3.Their response times;

4.The number of pending requests;

5.The number of requests with extension of time limits;

6.The number of dismissed requests;

7.The number of requests not satisfied because the information is reserved or confidential; and,

8.The number of challenges.

The Human Rights Ombudsman may request, in the cases of numerals 4, 5, 6 and 7, the reasons and the basis that gave rise to that decision. The foregoing is based on the provisions of Article 14, subparagraph i) of the Law of the Human Rights Commission of the Congress of the Republic and of the Human Rights Ombudsman, Decree Number 54-86 of the Congress of the Republic.

The Human Rights Ombudsman, in its annual report before the plenary of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala, may report on:

1.The number of requests for access to information filed with each obligated subject and the outcome thereof;

2.The response time;

3.The status of the challenges filed and the difficulties observed in compliance with this law;

4.A diagnosis and recommendations; and,

5.Its training, implementation and results program for obligated subjects.

The competent educational authorities shall include the subject of the right of access to public information in the study curricula of the primary, secondary and higher levels.

Obligated subjects shall establish permanent updating programs for their public servants regarding the right of access to public information and the right to protection of individuals' personal data, through courses, workshops, seminars and any pedagogical strategy deemed pertinent.

The same obligation applies to obligated subjects that do not form part of the public administration nor of the organization of the State.