The Board of Directors of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) approved a new Access to Information Policy (AIP) in September 2024 with the aim of strengthening its commitment to transparency, openness, and accountability.
As part of the update process, the Bank invited all its external stakeholders to participate in a public consultation in November 2023, an unprecedented milestone in the Bank's history. Through this process, the Bank received input and observations from citizens and from different organizations, such as the Centre for Law and Democracy, the World Bank, the Academic Network of Open International Government (RAGA), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Open Data Charter, among others.
To learn more about the process and outcomes of the updated regulations, we invite you to explore the following two points:
Background
The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) adopted its Access to Information Policy (AIP) on February 25, 2020, which came into effect on April 1, 2021. Since that date, the Bank has been seriously and efficiently implementing the regulations with the aim of strengthening transparency, accountability, and openness. The main achievements include the following:
The progressive increase in the classification and disclosure of public information.
The efficient response to requests for information within shorter time frames than those established by the regulations.
The launch of a platform of Public Indicators of compliance with the Policy in order to be accountable for its application.
The implementation of a series of knowledge dissemination and outreach activities to strengthen relationships with external stakeholders within the framework of the application of the regulations, among other activities.
The annual reports on the implementation of the Policy can be found on the following site.
Main updates to the Policy
Notwithstanding the progress made in its implementation, the Bank considered it important to advance in the strengthening of the spirit of the Policy and to strengthen its commitment to transparency and maximization of information through the improvement and updating of the text of the regulations. The specific objectives of the update were:
To align the regulations with the main standards on access to information developed by other international organizations.
To standardize and improve concepts and practices.
To strengthen the principle of maximum access and protect sensitive information.
To strengthen the dynamics between access to information, relationships with external stakeholders, open data, and accessibility.
To introduce the lessons learned identified in the process of implementing the Policy.
With the approval of the new Policy, the Bank will begin an implementation process in order to create public implementation manuals, adjust technological systems and train the Institution's personnel and citizens, among other actions. Additionally, during this process, CABEI will initiate another public consultation on its future open data strategy and effective communication of its public documents with a view to the new Policy coming into effect no later than June 1, 2025.