THE Access to Information Act that goes into effect October 1 will change "the rules of the game" in government by giving Jamaicans access to official documents that previously were inaccessible, according to members of The Carter Centre.

"This is a law that can change lives, and it can do so in a very dramatic way," said Richard Calland, a consultant for The Carter Centre, the Atlanta-based watchdog for good governance.

But yesterday four organisations expressed concerns that the regulations to be made by the minsiter, giving effect to the provisions of the Access to Information Act, were not tabled for examination and discussions.

The organisations:

* Jamaicans for Justice;

* Independent Jamaica Council for Human Rights;

* Farquharson Institution of Public Affairs;

* Association of Women's Organisations in Jamaica;

* Committee for the Upliftment of the Mentally Ill; and

* Addiction Alert, say the regulations should be available for comments and submissions before they are implemented.

Jamaica will be the third country in the English-speaking Caribbean to adopt sweeping legislation guaranteeing access to information, after Trinidad and Tobago and Belize.

Calland and other experts spoke about the legislation, which was passed in June, 2002, at the Stella Maris Church in Kingston Wednesday evening. The meeting drew about 50 people and was organised by Jamaicans For Justice, the human rights watchdog.

Laura Neuman, a Carter Centre lawyer, cautioned, however, that making the law work will be "the hardest part". The key to success, she explained, is the government's "political will" to see the law succeed, and the public's willingness to use it.

The law "will atrophy", she said, if Jamaicans don't use it.

Under the legislation, public servants who fail to comply with legal requests for public documents could face a $500,000 fine, six months in prison, or both.

Officials can invoke various exemptions, including those related to national security. But there are mechanisms to appeal official decisions which deny information requests.

Public officials must, however, respond to requests made under the legislation within a specific time period.

Some members of the audience expressed skepticism that the legislation would create more openness and accountability in Jamaica's government.

But Dr Carolyn Gomes, executive director of Jamaicans for Justice, stressed: "What is going to happen is going to depend on each of us... taking responsibility for making this work."

Over the past 15 years, Calland said, 35 countries have adopted such legislation. But developing countries in this hemisphere -- and the Caribbean in particular -- have been slow to follow suit, he said.

"Jamaica has got the opportunity to show leadership in this topic in the next year or so," said Calland, who also is executive chair of the Open Democracy Advice Centre in Cape Town, South Africa.

Four years ago, members of The Carter Centre were invited to Jamaica to offer input in anti-corruption and access to information legislation.

The law will be phased in gradually. It will first apply to the Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Ministry of Local Government, and Ministry of Finance and Planning. The National Works Agency and Planning Institute of Jamaica also will be affected.

"Governments around the world are broadly similar. They prefer secrecy to openness," said Calland. "But there is this wave of change that these (access to information) laws embody."

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