Although details of the regulation have yet to be made public, the rule marks remarkable progress in that it gives ordinary people free access to government information which used to be restricted on the ground of "confidentiality."

The new regulation will help the public know whether government action is in their interest, and will consequently stimulate civil servants to perform better under public supervision.

And foreign investors will especially benefit from this open-information rule as it will create a better environment with clear-cut laws and policies rather than a hotchpotch of "restricted documents" that have often left them baffled in the past.

The new rule conforms to the trend of globalization where governments are expected to open their information as wide as possible. It is also in line with the World Trade Organization's requirement on the transparency of domestic policies.

As a government regulation, the rule is only binding on central and local governments instead of other State organs such as the court and the procuratorate. Only a law can govern all of them.

But it is realistic to create this regulation first because a specific law would take longer to devise and implement.

However, the opening of government information is such a sensitive issue that makers of the new rule need to be very cautious on potential problems.

It is difficult to strike the right balance between guaranteeing people's access to government information and guarding national secrets. Therefore, a clear line about what should be open and what should not is necessary for the new regulation.

The rule also needs to have strict penalties for officials who deliberately prevent the public from knowing the truth, otherwise it might be seen by some as a worthless scrap of paper.

(China Daily September 25, 2002)