Legal tech | October 3, 2022

Blog ICTRecht: Tackle the Woo with technology!

The Government Information (Public Access) Act (hereinafter: Wob) has been a major challenge for government lawyers for years. While this used to be a mainly manual activity, forms of technology are now emerging for these activities. These techniques come in handy with the Open Government Act (hereinafter: Woo) that has been in force since May 1, 2022.

In our previous blog you have been able to read about the possibilities of eDiscovery. In this blog I will take a closer look at the opportunities that exist for government organizations, which make compliance with the Woo a lot easier. Finally, we introduce Indicates as a technology partner in this blog. Indica supplies the software we write about in this blog and, in our opinion, is a real game changer with their technology. ICTRecht and Indica have worked hard over the past period on joint services. This service will be launched very soon.

What is the difference between the Wob and Woo?

Unlike the Wob, the Woo obliges government organizations not only to comply with a passive disclosure obligation, but also with an active disclosure obligation. In other words, this means that governments must not only provide information upon request, but must also actively make information public. Considering the amount of information, this change requires quite some effort and will therefore be implemented in phases and step by step from 2023. The ultimate intention is that all information is accessible to everyone on the joint platform open.overheid.nl.

What obligations are there from the Woo?

The Woo regulates the right of citizens to government information and in order to properly regulate this, government organizations must meet certain obligations. This includes the passive and, as a newcomer, the active disclosure obligation. In addition, there are more obligations that government organizations must meet in the context of providing information, namely:

  • Governments are obliged to designate at least one contact person to whom they can go with a Woo request.
  • Woo requests must be processed within a maximum of four weeks. In some cases, an extension of the period by two weeks is possible.
  • Documents must be anonymized if applicable. For example, personal policy opinions and other (irrelevant) information must be blackened before the documents are provided. The reason for painting it black must also be stated.
  • Woo requests must be able to be submitted electronically.
  • Governments must make efforts to ensure sustainable accessibility of documents.

What is the problem in practice?

When you think of government information, you can imagine that it involves a lot of data. The Woo divides government information into different categories, such as research reports and laws. In practice, this involves many and different types of documents, making compliance with the Woo by definition a major job. After all, the active disclosure obligation is not simply being introduced in phases and step by step, but requests for information still involve a lot of work for governments.

Government organizations therefore frequently receive Woo requests, which they must process within four weeks. When such a request is received, for example a request for information about a specific bill, it is important to gather all relevant documents within the foreseeable future. The first challenge is knowing which documents are relevant to answering the request and where they can be found.

Once all the relevant pieces have finally been collected, the next important task is to read everything carefully for personal policy views and other data. Such content must be varnished before the documents can be provided to the applicant. Ideally, it should also be substantiated why certain parts of the text have been removed.

Collecting and painting the pieces by hand are time-consuming jobs and, as far as I'm concerned, are a thing of the past. There are much more efficient ways to handle Woo requests.

eDiscovery tools bring order to chaos!

To start with, an eDiscovery tool can quickly search all databases. Even then, in principle, it still creates a jumble of all kinds of pieces. By using filters, you can also have all the relevant pieces needed for a particular Woo request in order in no time. In addition, it also offers people without substantive expertise the opportunity to handle Woo requests. So not only does it work faster, but the work can also be subdivided to a greater extent.

In addition, eDiscovery tools work with artificial intelligence (AI), with which pieces can now be varnished automatically. Instead of reading the documents carefully, you only have to scan them. Especially in combination with the quick search and finding of pieces, you save a lot of valuable time. You can then use that valuable time to handle more Woo requests or other substantive work.

Furthermore, eDiscovery tools also offer the option of creating internal workflows. This means that with such a tool you can assign certain tasks to certain people. If a Woo request is received by a contact person and all relevant documents have been collected, someone else can be assigned the task of painting, for example. Finally, a review could also take place by a specific person before the documents are provided to the applicant. In any case, internal workflows can be organized according to the organization's wishes.

eDiscovery tools work better, more efficiently and faster when it comes to data management. This creates more satisfaction among people and ultimately contributes greatly to a more open government, which has always been the goal of the legislation.

Collaboration ICTRecht and Indica

ICTRecht works exclusively with Indicates in the field of Woo. This collaboration arose from a shared vision on technology and legal work processes. Indica supplies software to both national and local governments to (partially) automate the Woo process using the software described above. ICTRecht ensures successful implementation of the software and provides the necessary support for the substantive process. Very soon we will officially launch this joint service resulting from our collaboration.

Would you like to know more about the joint services provided by ICTRecht and Indica? Please contact Koen van Jaarsveld of ICTRecht ([email protected]) or with Joost Rutgers from Indica ([email protected]).