With the addition of a new item titled “Active Transparency and Access to Public Information” to the Central Bank of Uruguay’s (BCU in Spanish) website, a long list of measures adopted after the passing of Act No.18.381 on October 17, 2008 and Decree No. 232/2010 was completed. The purpose of this is to guarantee the fundamental right of the public to access public information, regardless of the nationality or nature of the requester. Also, to promote transparency in the BCU, an autonomous entity, in general terms, part of the Government, and its role carrying out public functions.
Some of the measures requested by the Board of Directors and adopted by the BCU´s Management Committee are the following:
1). A Working Group was formed of seven management staff or department heads from the following areas:
- General Secretariat
- Internal Audit Inspector General
- Legal Office
- Institutional Services Management
- Superintendency of Financial Services
- Office of Economic Policy and Markets
- Department of Institutional Communication
As a result of the work carried out by this Group, information was collected, reviewed and made available to all BCU departments, and the approval of the following resolutions by the Board of Directors was fostered:
a) Resolution D/201/2011 of 29/6/2011. Identifies procedures for requesting access to public information and grants the Superintendency of Financial Services the authority to issue decisions with regards to requests.
b) Resolution D/121/2011 of 12/4/2011. Classifies information as reserved and confidential (based on specific topics) and identifies issues considered secret protected by law.
c) Resolution D/123/2011 of 12/4/2011. Modifies the Administrative Regulations to comply with the norms of access to public information.
d) Resolution D/177/2014 of 18/06/2014. Active Transparency. Designates personnel responsible for the contents of the BCU website.
e) Resolution D/46/2016 of 24/2/2016. Identifies information to be classified as reserved and confidential (based on specific topics), and declares issues secret protected by law.
2) A Working Group was formed with representatives of all the reporting areas to make the modifications of the APIA Electronic system needed to comply with access to public information norms.
This working Group identified procedures, duties, and requirements for classifying information as reserved or confidential. Additionally, the company responsible for the APIA system was hired to make all the required changes.
3) Three workshops were held by the Active Transparency Working Group to train employees on the public’s right to access information and active transparency.
• First Workshop on July 28, 2011. More than 100 Superintendecy of Financial Services employees attended
• Second Workshop on September 30, 2011. Approximately 35 employees from the Economic Policy and Markets Department, Economic Advisory Department, Department of Institutional Communication, General Secretariat, and Secretary of the Board of Directors
• Third Workshop on October 28, 2011. About 70 employees from the Legal Department, Internal Auditing General Inspection, and Office of Institutional Services.
4) The necessary items to comply with Active Transparency were activated on the website, a process that is completed at this time.
The Central Bank of Uruguay joined the electronic processing project of requests for access to public information (E-Access), created by AGESIC through the Unit for Access to Public Information (UAIP), an information technology tool that allows centralizing and monitoring the requests for access to public information that are submitted to any public body.
The system seeks to enable citizens to submit their requests online and empower the supervisory body to obtain information regarding the compliance status of all regulated and reporting bodies.
Brief description of the scope of the project.
The system has the following functionalities:
• Citizens submit requests online with no need to go to the entity.
• Interested parties can register and monitor their access requests directly.
• Requests for access to public information are submitted through a centralized portal.
• Management and closing of requests is performed by regulated and reporting bodies.
• Management of reports required by the Unit of Access to Public Information (UAIP in Spanish) and access to information on indicators and statistics is available.
For more information visit: www.uaip.gub.uy - System of Access to Public Information
Act No. 18.831 of October 17, 2008. The objective of the Act on the “Right to Access Public Information” is to promote transparency of public entities carrying out a public function and to guarantee the public’s right to access public information.
Decree 232/010 of the Executive Power dated August 2, 2010, regulating the implementation of the norm, establishes in article 38 the information that is required to be available on the website of the reporting entities.
Includes a table of the information published by the BCU in compliance with the norms. Each entry has a direct link leading to the document or another part of the website where the information is displayed. The date of the most recent update is displayed. The types of information that do not apply are clearly identified.
