Istanbul Anti-Corruption Action Plan for

which would allow receiving information from the state and local authorities; provide for a possibility to 
appeal the refusal to provide such information to these bodies without sufficient grounds. 
There is an existing Presidential Decree concerning access to information which provides a basic 
scheme to be followed by the public when requesting information from state agencies and local authorities.
Government bodies, however, seem only vaguely aware of the decree and continue to overlay, or rely 
entirely on, their internal rules and guidelines in making decisions on granting requests for information.
The method of appeal is even less known and reportedly rarely used. 
In practice, NGOs report that while there has been some improvement in this area, responses to 
requests for information are often confusing and answers are often vague the information provided is often 
not responsive or the objected to by the state body. Some NGOs felt that in order to effectively request 
information they needed a lawyer to handle their request.
At the time of the monitoring mission, the Ministry of Justice reported that it was unaware of any 
pending draft law specifically on access to information. It is reported that in June 2007, the “Law on 
Administrative Procedures” created additional web-based mechanisms for the delivery of information to 
citizens, including through “interactive questions.” This is a positive step, although the law has not been in 
force long enough to judge its effectiveness, and the lack of internet access by much of the Kazakh 
population limits the availability of the information.
Article 16 of the “Law on Administrative Procedures” provides an appeal procedure, including the 
opportunity to appeal a denial of a request for information to the courts within a reasonable time-frame.
The law, however, does not establish a standard for approval or denial of a request, so the grounds for 
determination of “sufficient grounds” for denial are unclear. 
In practice, the current legal and regulatory regime does not constitute an effective or efficient set of 
common rules and procedures for obtaining information from the state and local authorities. Nor are there 

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plans to introduce a specific law on access to information which would provide a set of common rules and 
procedures.