The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is pleased to announce that its new Access to Information Policy (AIP) comes into effect on September 1, 2025, following its approval by the Board of Executive Directors on June 26, 2024.
This updated Policy reflects the IDB’s commitment to greater transparency, accountability, and stakeholder engagement, aligning with international best practices. Key improvements include:
- Recognition of access to information as a fundamental human right.
- Maximum access to information with presumption of disclosure
- Introduction of harm test mechanism for determining confidentiality levels (full or partial).
- Clear and delimited exceptions with specific criteria
The implementation process included a 35-day Round for Comments (April 4–May 9, 2025) to gather feedback from civil society and other stakeholders on the draft Implementation Guidelines. These Guidelines will support the effective rollout of the new Policy.
In 2019, the Bank launched a review of its Access to Information Policy. As part of this process, the Board of Executive Directors approved a Policy Profile that was submitted for public consultation.
Based on the outcome of the public consultation process and following recommendations from its Policy Evaluation Committee, the IDB presented a new policy proposal to the Board of Executive Directors in April 2022. The proposal was subsequently approved to be submitted for the first round of public consultation with stakeholders.
The process consisted of three phases:
The IDB held virtual dialogues with representatives of local and/or regional organizations.
The IDB held virtual meetings with key stakeholders and coordinated a 120-day period of open discussions, ending December 28, 2022. In addition, the Bank held five in-person meetings in Costa Rica, Jamaica, Colombia, Uruguay and the United States.
The IDB considered the comments received and prepared a report of this process (See the report in the list of Key Documents for the new round of participation). Based on the received inputs the Board of Executive Directors approved a revised version of the Policy.
The IDB held virtual dialogues with representatives of local and/or regional organizations.
The IDB held virtual meetings with key stakeholders and coordinated a 120-day period of open discussions, ending December 28, 2022. In addition, the Bank held five in-person meetings in Costa Rica, Jamaica, Colombia, Uruguay and the United States.
The IDB considered the comments received and prepared a report of this process (See the report in the list of Key Documents for the new round of participation). Based on the received inputs the Board of Executive Directors approved a revised version of the Policy.