The Department of Justice wants to amend the Public Disclosures Act and Archives Regulations so that more public sector records are exempt from inspection and record keeping. In the proposal, the change is justified by the fact that the organization’s internal documents are part of the internal preparation of the files and that the exemption from publicity leaves more room for internal disagreements and appreciations until the position final of the organism. In the past, public bodies had the option of refusing access to such documents. From now on, the ministry also wants to stop recording them, in order to prevent everyone from knowing about them, from interested citizens to journalists and researchers.

One of those who Reacting to the proposal is former auditor general and longtime parliamentary representative on the oversight committee Per-Kristian Foss. In an article in Aftenposten, he criticizes the government for wanting more secrecy. Of course, it can be annoying for the administration to know that access to documents and procedures can be requested at any time. There are probably a lot of high-level bureaucrats or ministers who should have been that too. Second, the department forgets that certainty about the possibility of access can improve the quality of work, Foss believes. In addition, our former auditor general believes that we have seen time and time again that access to public proceedings has added new aspects to records. It points to the government’s statement in the Hurdal Platform that it “will ensure that the Public Disclosure Act and the principle of greater transparency are applied in all public companies”. He does just the opposite. Foss also recalls that the Justice Department was worst off when the National Audit Office investigated the administration’s practice of the Public Information Act.

In the proposed law change the Department of Justice has also strayed into a bizarre circular feud. The ministry says some public companies do not save internal documents to avoid access requests. It ensures less publicity, writes the ministry. But the conclusion is strange: instead of requiring that the current law be respected, the government wants to allow such a practice to become legal. The annoyance of bureaucrats must not lead to less transparency. Public trust in public bodies is tied to the certainty that we can see them in the maps.