10 Access to information in São Paulo

The government of São Paulo has been preparing since the mid-1980s to organize the information within the state. That has included instituting the File System of the State of São Paulo and a number of laws and decrees during the 1990s and 2000s that deal with the ecosystem of responsibilities and data management in São Paulo. One of the most important steps was taken in 2010 with a decree that dealt specifically with how the state should publish and organize the data considered open on the World Wide Web, the Internet.

Decree No. 55.559 of March 12, 2010 created the open data portal of São Paulo entitled "SP Open Government". This portal concentrates efforts to publish non-confidential databases and provide unrestricted access to the São Paulo government. The decree provides that these databases shall be published in an "open format" and makes due consideration in relation to confidential data that should not be published. According to the decree, each public agency is responsible for selecting, publishing, and updating these databases under the coordination of the Secretariat of Public Management, which is responsible for maintaining the portal. Another decree that deals with access to information in the State of São Paulo is No. 58.052 of May 16, 2012 that regulates Federal Law No. 12.527 of November 18, 2011, which is the current Brazilian Information Act in force in Brazil.