Access-to-information laws and data protection authorities in North Africa

Morocco: law 31-13 on the right of access to information

Law 31-13 was promulgated by dahir 1-18-15 of 22 February 2018 ¹. Its Arabic text appeared in Bulletin Officiel general edition n° 6655 of 12 March 2018, and its French translation in n° 6670 of 3 May 2018 ¹. Article 30 states that the law took effect one year after publication. Public bodies then had one more year to set up the measures in articles 10 to 13 ¹.

Under article 5, access is free, except for paid services set by regulation. The applicant pays reproduction or processing costs and any postage ¹. Under article 16, the body must answer within 20 working days. It may extend this once, with written reasons ¹. Article 17 sets 3 days for urgent requests needed to protect a person's life, safety or liberty ¹.

Article 7 lists exceptions. They cover national defence, internal and external state security, private life and personal data, relations with other states, monetary and economic policy, intellectual property, and the protection of whistleblowers and witnesses in corruption cases ¹.

Morocco: the Commission du droit d'accès à l'information

Article 22 creates the Commission du droit d'accès à l'information (CDAI, commission on the right of access to information), attached to the Head of Government ¹. Under article 23 it is chaired by the president of the national data protection commission set up by article 27 of law 09-08 ¹. Members serve five years, renewable once ¹.

Morocco's Conseil National des Droits de l'Homme (CNDH, national human rights council) gave an opinion on the bill after a request dated 29 July 2016 from the President of the House of Councillors ². It cited article 27 of the Constitution and welcomed the creation of the commission in the version adopted by the House of Representatives ².

Tunisia: organic law 2016-22 and the INAI

The Instance d'Accès à l'Information (INAI, access to information authority) describes itself as an independent public authority with legal personality and financial autonomy ³. It was created by organic law 22 of 2016 dated 24 March 2016 on the right of access to information. Parliament elected its council members on 18 July 2017 ³.

A guide issued under the law by Beit al-Hikma, the Tunisian academy of sciences, letters and arts, sets out the deadlines ⁴. It cites article 38 of the Constitution of 25 July 2022 as the basis of the right ⁴. A body must answer within 20 days of receiving or correcting a request, and within 10 days for on-site viewing ⁴. Where the request affects a person's life or liberty, the answer is due within 48 hours ⁴. Silence within the legal time counts as an implied refusal that can be challenged ⁴. Access is free in principle. Where costs arise, the charge may not exceed the real cost ⁴.

• Internal review: the body answers within 10 days ⁴
• Appeal to the INAI: within 20 days of the refusal ⁴
• INAI decision: within 45 days, binding ⁴
• Appeal against the INAI decision: Administrative Court, within 30 days ⁴

Data protection authorities

Morocco's Commission Nationale de contrôle de la protection des Données à caractère Personnel (CNDP, national commission for the control of personal data protection) lists law 09-08 and decree 2-09-165 as its legal texts. Its site offers an online complaint form and a route to exercise the right of access to information ⁵.

Algeria's law 18-07 of 10 June 2018 on the protection of natural persons in the processing of personal data appeared in Journal Officiel n° 34 ⁶. Article 22 creates an independent administrative authority placed with the President of the Republic ⁶. Most processing needs a prior declaration to that authority or its authorisation. The authority must rule on an authorisation within two months, extendable by reasoned decision ⁶.

Egypt has a personal data protection law, Law No. 151 of 2020. Its official text could not be opened from an Egyptian government source for this page, so its provisions are not summarised here.