Some governments around the world have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by placing limits on the right of individuals to access information held by public authorities, or the right to information. This has serious implications for government transparency and makes it difficult for traditional accountability institutions to hold public actors to account due to emergency operational constraints.

This research paper explores how different states have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, either by adopting legal measures to limit the right to information or by not adopting these. Based on an analysis of international standards relating to both restrictions on the right to information and emergency derogations from rights, key principles are proposed to govern state actions in the area of the right to information during public health emergencies.