United States FOIA versus United Kingdom FOIA

Question

We currently have a foia tag, which appears to be scoped to be specifically about the Freedom of Information Act in the United States (as well as state-level variations therein). There is, however, an identically named and similarly themed piece of legislation within the United Kingdom. This raises a few interrelated questions of how we might best address this particular situation, as well as the more general problem of distinct jurisdictions using very similar terminology and legislation names.

Should we have jurisdiction-specific tags, such as us-foia and uk-foia, instead? Or broaden the description of foia? Would a general purpose freedom-of-information be warranted?

Additionally, the tag description refers simply to the "federal law", which is not a term unique to the United States (this appears to happen with other tags, as well, including federal-law). So surely either the tag name or description needs adjustment.

Answer 1

Good catch: There is no reason for the description on foia to restrict it so adamantly to the U.S. Federal Freedom of Information Act. I just edited the tag description accordingly: It's applicable to any law in any jurisdiction that applies to a government entity's legal obligation to share information.

The general problem of "subject" tags being applicable in multiple jurisdictions has been discussed extensively here.

Current practice is:

• Ask people to use jurisdiction tags when necessary to avoid ambiguity
• Encourage people to use jurisdiction tags when helpful to narrow the applicable scope of the question
• But even when tagged with a jurisdiction to admit answers on the subject that address other jurisdictions.