-32- 57(37) Following the entry into force of Supreme Decree No. 26 establishing the regulations on the secrecy or confidentiality of acts and documents of the State Administration (supra para. 57(36)), approximately 90 decisions were issued granting secrecy or confidentiality to a series of administrative acts, documents and background information held by State entities.60 57(38) On May 29, 2003, Act No. 19,88061 on administrative procedures was published, incorporating the principle of disclosure in its Articles 16, 17(a) and (d), and 39. Article 16 stipulates that “with the exceptions established by law or the regulations, the administrative acts of the body of the State Administration and the documents that directly or essential substantiate or complement them, are public.” 57(39) On October 4, 2004, the Comptroller General’s Office issued Opinion No. 49,883,62 in response to a request filed by several individuals and organizations who contested the legality of 49 decisions concerning declarations of secrecy or confidentiality. This opinion stated that “numerous decisions exceed the laws and regulations by declaring the secrecy and confidentiality of other types of issues,” and that “several decisions establish matters subject to secrecy or confidentiality in such broad terms that it cannot be understood that they are protected by the legal and regulatory provisions on which they should be based.” In this opinion, the Comptroller General’s Office stated that “it should be observed that some decisions do not include the precise justification for declaring certain documents secret or confidential.” Based on the above, the Comptroller General’s Office ordered peremptorily all Government departments to “re-examine [such decisions] as soon as possible [...] and, when applicable, modify them to adapt them to the legal provisions on which they are based.” 57(40) On January 4, 2005, two senators presented a draft law on access to public information.63 In the preambular paragraphs, it stated that “[d]espite legislative efforts [in the 1999 Probity Act and Act No. 19,880 of May 29, 2003], in practice, the principles of transparency and access to public information are severely limited, converting these laws into dead letter […,] owing to the fact that the Probity Act itself stipulates that one or more regulations shall establish the cases of secrecy or confidentiality of the documentation and background information held by the State Administration, and this constitutes a significant barrier to the right of access to public information established by law.” 60 Cf. Administrative decisions of various State bodies that classify information as secret or confidential (file of appendixes to the requests and arguments brief, volume I, appendix 4, folios 1164 to 1184); Open Society Institute and PARTICIPA, Chilean Report “Monitoring the Access to Public Information,” November 2004 (file of appendixes to the requests and arguments brief, appendix 9, folios 1615 to 1634); and expert opinion given by Carlos Carmona Santander before the Inter-American Court during the public hearing held on April 3, 2006. 61 Cf. Act No. 19,980 published in the official gazette of May 29, 2003 (helpful evidence incorporated by the Inter-American Court, available at http://www.conicyt.cl/directorio/legislacion/ley19980.html). 62 Cf. Opinion No. 49,883 of October 4, 2004 (file of appendixes to the requests and arguments brief, volume I, appendix 5, folios 1186 to 1196). 63 Cf. Draft Act No. 3773-06 on Access to Public Information (file of appendixes to the brief answering the application and with observations on the requests and arguments brief, appendix 7, folios 2261 to 2270); and draft Act No. 3773-06 on Access to Public Information (helpful evidence incorporated by the Inter-American Court, available at http://sil.senado.cl/pags/index.html).