Information Commissioner's Office

Civil Aviation Authority

19 June 2007, Education (Other)

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the “FOIA”) the complainant requested copies of Airprox, or similar, reports in relation to three incidents involving aircraft. By way of background, the public authority defines an Airprox incident as a situation when, in the opinion of a pilot or a controller, the distance between aircraft as well as their relative positions and speed was such that the safety of the aircraft involved was or may have been compromised. The public authority provided some summary information on two of the incidents, and informed the complainant that it did not hold any information in relation to the third incident. The public authority refused to provide copies of the actual reports, citing section 44 of the FOIA, and stating that section 23 of the Civil Aviation Act 1982 provided a statutory bar to disclosure. After considering the case the Commissioner upheld the decision of the public authority to withhold the information in question under section 44. Therefore the Commissioner does not require the public authority to take any further steps in relation to the complainant’s request.

FOI 44: Not upheld