ABSTRACT
Right-to-know is a legal principle affording individuals an entitlement to information from governmental authorities and private entities. Mandatory disclosure of information is now a widespread requirement for state actors in democratic political systems, with extensive but selective use in the private sector, notably company reporting rules and labeling obligations. Right-to-know laws have been adopted by more than eighty countries (see Policy diffusion): they are both an alternative and supplement to other regulatory instruments, and are most apposite where information deficits or asymmetries are related to welfare losses, including environmental degradation (Florini 2007). Recent uptake of right-toknow legislation includes national examples with broad scope, such as in
India and South Africa (covering both public and private sector actors), and also more restrictive applications, notably the Chinese freedom of information legislation designed to promote efficient decision-making (Florini and Jairaj 2014).
