Governmental Freedom of Information Unit accepts Gisha’s complaint regarding COGAT’s 2014 annual report

November 15, 2015

As we have reported previously, the office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories has breached its legal obligation under the Freedom of Information Act 5758-1998, and the Freedom of Information Regulations 5759-1999, and has not yet made its 2014 annual report available to the public. The report was due for publication on July 1, 2015. Owing to this omission, and given that this is not the first time COGAT has failed to publish the report as required by the act, on August 10, 2015, Gisha sent a complaint to the governmental Freedom of Information Unit which is tasked with overseeing the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act by state institutions, including the military and COGAT.

On November 15, 2015, the Freedom of Information Unit found the complaint justified, and ordered COGAT to “correct the flaw in its conduct by publishing the annual report on its website without delay”. But the COGAT website has been inactive for some six months, which precludes any possibility that the instructions of the Unit will be carried out as ordered. COGAT has so far failed to comply with the instructions of the Unit and the report has not been posted to its website to date.