United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, the Public Records Act 1958, amended in 1967, states that "Public records ....other than those to which members of the public have had access before their transfer ...., shall not be available for public inspection until they have been in existence for years or such other period....as the Lord Chancellor may,.... for the time being prescribe as respects any particular class of public records." The rule was essentially two 30 year rules; one requiring that records be transferred from government departments to the Public Record Office (now The National Archives) at 30 years unless specific exemptions were given (by the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Council on Public Records), and that they were opened at such time unless they were deemed likely to cause "damage to the country's image, national security or foreign relations" if they were to be released.
This rule was changed by the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (which came into force Jan 1st 2005). The FOI act essentially removed the 2nd of the 30 year rules (the access one), and replaced it with provisions allowing citizens to request a wide range of information before any time limit has expired, and also removing some of the exemptions which had previously applied at the 30 year point. After 30 years, information is transferred to The National Archives, and is reviewed under the FOI act to see if it should be opened. The only rationale for keeping it closed within The National Archives is if an FOI exemption applies.
As a result of this change, releases now happen monthly, rather than annually, and include more recent events, rather than only those over 30 years old.
An independent inquiry chaired by Paul Dacre, editor of the Daily Mail, recommended in January 2009 that the last restrictions on the release of information, such as cabinet minutes, should be reduced to a 15-year embargo and phased in over a 15-year period.
Read more about this topic: Thirty Year Rule
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