Information Commissioner's Office

Summary: The complainant submitted a number of requests all of which focused on a complaint Greenpeace had made to the Market Research Society about a particular public consultation which had been carried out. The consultation in question focused on the role of nuclear power in the UK. The public authority handled all of the requests under the Act, as opposed to under the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR), provided some information but withheld further information on the basis of a number of exemptions. The Commissioner has reviewed all of the requested information and has concluded that all of it constitutes environmental information as defined by the EIR and therefore the requests should have been dealt with under that access regime rather than under the Act. The Commissioner therefore requires the public authority to reconsider these requests under the EIR and provide the requested information or issue a refusal notice compliant with regulation 14 of the EIR.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: EIR 5 - Complaint Upheld