For public policy reasons, many jurisdictions have policies, laws or regulations imposing disclosure obligations on Contracting Authorities and/or ensuring the public have access to public procurement information. Mandated proactive disclosure can either be incorporated into the country's freedom of information (FOI) legislation52, PPP policies, laws and regulations53, procurement legislation, public financial management (PFM) legislation54, sector-specific legislation as well as legislation relating to budget transparency. Some jurisdictions have even developed standard clauses related to transparency and confidentiality in PPP Contracts.55 A comprehensive overview of existing frameworks, good practice cases and jurisdictional studies is given by the WB Disclosure Framework 2016 and the companion jurisdictional and case study volumes56. Clauses dealing with transparency, disclosure and confidentiality should always be drafted following an analysis of the legal and policy framework, and it is for the Contracting Authority to decide whether contractual obligations should go beyond what is legally required. It is usual to include specific reference to any such laws and regulations.
As mentioned above, there may also be international financial institutions and multilateral agencies supporting the PPP Project which, as a condition of their support, require Contracting Authorities to comply with their own policies on transparency. The information required to be disclosed under such policies does not, however, usually include disclosure of commercially sensitive or proprietary information.
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52 For example, Chile's Access to Public Information Law (2008), India/Karnataka's Right to Information Act (2005) and New South Wales' Government Information (Public Access) Act (2009).
53 For example, Kenya's PPP Act (2013); Brazil, Minas Gerais PPP Law (2003), India Draft PPP Policy (2012), UKPF2: for details and further information see Table 3 PPP Legislation and Transparency Elements in: WB Disclosure Framework 2016. See link in Appendix, Additional PPP Resources.
54 For details see Table 3 PPP Legislation and Transparency Elements in: WB Disclosure Framework 2016. See link in Appendix, Additional PPP Resources.
55 Examples with short summaries are provided in Table 11 of the WB Disclosure Framework 2016. See link in Appendix, Additional PPP Resources.
56 Disclosure in Public-Private Partnerships: Jurisdictional Studies, World Bank 2016 and Disclosure in Public-Private Partnerships: Good Practice Cases, World Bank 2016. See link in Appendix, Additional PPP Resources.