The Access to Information Act, 2016 (Act No. 6 of 2016) (Tanzania)

The Access to Information Act, 2016 (Act No. 6 of 2016) is Tanzania's statutory framework giving effect to the constitutional right under Article 18 to seek and receive information. It confers a right of access to information held by 'information holders', public authorities and private bodies that use public funds or hold information of significant public interest, and establishes procedures, timelines and an appeals mechanism for requests. For a digital-rights library it is significant both as a transparency instrument and because much government information is now held and disseminated digitally; the Act governs the public's ability to obtain that information. The Act is included in the Digital Rights collection as an access-to-information instrument, mirroring the treatment of equivalent statutes in Kenya and Rwanda. It requires information holders to respond within prescribed periods, to give reasons for refusals, and to facilitate proactive disclosure of certain categories of information. It also recognises a public-interest consideration in defined circumstances. The Act's protections should not be overstated, and it has been widely criticised by press-freedom and civil-society organisations (including MISA Tanzania and ARTICLE 19) as containing features that chill rather than enable the free flow of information. It carries broad exemptions and creates offences for the disclosure or publication of certain information, including provisions penalising the communication of information that is false or that may prejudice specified interests, provisions that, alongside the Cybercrimes Act 2015 and the Media Services Act 2016, have been used to restrict online journalism and commentary. The oversight architecture relies on internal review by information holders and recourse to the ordinary courts rather than an independent information commissioner. This entry records the Act as in force and cross-references it to Tanzania's cybercrime statute. Its exact assent date in 2016 should be confirmed at verification; the operative text is the version published by the Ministry of Information, Communication and Information Technology and reproduced on TanzLII.

1. 1Confers a right of access to information held by public authorities and by private bodies using public funds or holding information of significant public interest
2. 2Sets request procedures, response timelines, a duty to give reasons for refusals and an appeals mechanism
3. 3Provides for proactive disclosure of certain categories of information and a public-interest consideration
4. 4Contains broad exemptions and offence provisions for disclosing or publishing certain information, criticised as chilling press freedom (MISA Tanzania, ARTICLE 19)
5. 5Oversight via internal review and the ordinary courts; no independent information commissioner
6. 6Gives statutory effect to the Article 18 right to seek and receive information; operates alongside the Cybercrimes Act 2015 and Media Services Act 2016