Declaration issued from the G8 Summit at Lough Erne on agreed principles for the future.

The Group Eight (G8) is a forum for the governments of eight of the world's eleven largest national economies. Each year, the G8 holds a Leaders’ Summit, in which Heads of State and Government of member countries meet to discuss and attempt to reconcile global issues.

The last G8 summit held at the Lough Erne, Northern Ireland on June 18, issued The Lough Erne Declaration  which sets 10 principles for the future.

This set of principles are encouraging for moreso for access to information, especially point 10 which reads:

"Governments should publish information on laws, budgets, spending, national statistics, elections and government contracts in a way that is easy to read and re-use, so that citizens can hold them to account"

Declaration follows below:

G8 Lough Erne Declaration

2013 Lough Erne Summit
Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, June 18, 2013

Private enterprise drives growth, reduces poverty, and creates jobs and prosperity for people around the world. Governments have a special responsibility to make proper rules and promote good governance. Fair taxes, increased transparency and open trade are vital drivers of this. We will make a real difference by doing the following:

1. Tax authorities across the world should automatically share information to fight the scourge of tax evasion.

2. Countries should change rules that let companies shift their profits across borders to avoid taxes, and multinationals should report to tax authorities what tax they pay where.

3. Companies should know who really owns them and tax collectors and law enforcers should be able to obtain this information easily.

4. Developing countries should have the information and capacity to collect the taxes owed them – and other countries have a duty to help them.

5. Extractive companies should report payments to all governments - and governments should publish income from such companies.

6. Minerals should be sourced legitimately, not plundered from conflict zones.

7. Land transactions should be transparent, respecting the property rights of local communities.

8. Governments should roll back protectionism and agree new trade deals that boost jobs and growth worldwide.

9. Governments should cut wasteful bureaucracy at borders and make it easier and quicker to move goods between developing countries.

10. Governments should publish information on laws, budgets, spending, national statistics, elections and government contracts in a way that is easy to read and re-use, so that citizens can hold them to account.