National Assembly Legislation The right to access and obtain information 9. 1) Any person has the right to access and obtain information from their primary sources from government bodies and units at all levels, public-sector institutions, public joint-stock companies, and companies in which the government participates whatever its equity stake and any public institution deemed by the competent minister to have activities similar to those of the public sector and civil society organizations. 2) Each public institution must appoint an employee specializing in information to be called “information officer” and to be in responsible for the following: a) The necessary powers for searching for and accessing the requested information, b) Examining the requests for access to information, c) Maintain and preserve of information, d) Publish the procedures, forms and the required fees with the approval of the Commissioner to facilitate access to them. Procedures to access and obtain information 10. To obtain information, the following procedures shall be taken: a) Submit an application to the entity that maintains the information requesting it subject to the exceptions stipulated in article 12, b) The request for information shall be submitted in writing to the information officer at the public institution, and this application shall include a description of the details to determine whether the public institution maintains a document that contains this information; if the public institution indeed maintains that information, it shall be turned over to the applicant in accordance with article 11, c) A person who is not able to submit a written application to obtain information—if he cannot read or write or is disabled—can then submit an application orally to be noted down by the information officer at the public institution, with the names of the applicant and the information officer at the public institution and his title, and he shall give a copy of the application to the applicant,