# Challenges When Using Jurimetrics in Brazil--A Survey of Courts
## Brazil's Freedom of Information Act  
### Legal Framework  
Access to information is a universal right, and the legal framework for it dates back to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights [6], where article 19 declares that every human being has the right to freedom of opinion and expression. The United Nations Convention against Corruption [7], in articles 10 and 13, also recommends that each state party shall take the necessary measures and actions to improve the transparency of public administration, thus providing access to information about your organization, operation, and, above all, of its decision-making processes. Finally, the fourth item of the Inter-American Declaration of Principles of Freedom of Speech [8] reaffirms the need for access to information and proclaims this as a fundamental right of the individual.  
In Brazil, the guarantee of access to information is ensured by item XXXIII of article 5 of the Brazilian Federal Constitution (1988) [9], which says: \"everyone has the right to receive information from public information bodies of one's particular, or collective or general interest.\" However, despite the existence of this provision, formal and structured access only become nationally enforceable in 2011 due to the enacting of a bill that regulated the forms of access to information [3], establishing that the information produced by the state is public and its secrecy the exception.  
This bill is the Federal Act 12,527/2011--Brazilian Freedom of Information Act (FIA) [3]--which establishes that the activity of agencies throughout the public administration shall be available to the public by default. In addition, sets forth a minimum list of information to be included in the agency internet sites, for example, institutional information, records of expenditure values and transfers, bids, contracts, general data allowing the monitoring of programs and projects, among others.  
In this context, the transparency of information can be divided into two categories: active and passive transparency. The first relates to the publication of information on the agency internet site. The second category relates to information that is not published and therefore there is a need to request it to the holder of the information. To make sure that information in the second category was made available, the law established a mechanism--the Access to Information Procedure (AIP) to request it as well as the duty of the agency to provide it when requested [3].  
Since 2009, the Brazilian National Council of Justice (CNJ) established the need for dissemination of information about the activities performed by Brazilian courts. Examples include the issue of Resolutions 79 [10] and 102 [11], both from 2009, which advocate for the dissemination of budget, management, governance, revenues, expenses and payroll. When the FIA was issued [3], the CNJ published a new resolution in order to clarify the need for dissemination of information on the amount spent with travel expenses, bonuses and reimbursments--Resolution 151/2012-CNJ [12].  
Finally, in 2015, the CNJ edited new Resolution 215/2015 [13], which incorporated the legal concepts of the previous regulations and compiled them in a single instrument that regulates the access to information. This normative instrument reaffirmed the guidelines and principles of FIA and, among other measures, determined the dissemination of information on the functioning of the Brazilian Justice in plain and accessible language, presented the minimum information that needs to be published, established which types of information will not be given and what information is restricted, and defined which trials should be publicized, establishing the need of live video stream for such sessions and that the recording and minutes should be available on the internet.