Summary of the Freedom of Information
Act 2000

The Right to Information

These new rights are legally enforceable. There is a right to ask the HSE or other public body to review the decision. There is also a right to seek review by an Information Commissioner which has enforcement powers

The Act is fully retrospective so that it applies to all information, no matter how recent or how old

Exemptions
However these two rights are limited by a number of substantial exemptions.
Some of these exemptions are absolute - that is to say, if the information requested falls into such a category the member of the public has no right to be given it under the FOIA. Others exemptions are qualified exemptions - that is to say if the information requested falls into such a category it is necessary for the public body to determine whether there is an overriding public interest not to disclose it; information should only not be disclosed if on balance it is in the public interest not to disclose it.

What information does the Act apply to?
It applies to all information held by public authorities, recorded in any form.
This is a wide definition that includes paper-based documentation, information stored on a computer, audio and video recordings, plans, maps and photographs. It does not apply to unrecorded information, which may be known to an authority or to information which an authority has held in the past but which has been destroyed in line with retention policies before a request for it is received.

The right is to the information itself and not to the document or record, which
contains it. This means, for example, that where a document contains a mixture of disclosable and non-disclosable information, the disclosable information must be extracted from the document and released.

Who can apply?
The right of access created by the FOI Act permits anyone, anywhere, to make a request. The Act does not distinguish between members of the public, journalists, companies or other organisations. Nor does it distinguish on grounds of nationality or country of residence. All requests must be treated the same irrespective of the country of origin.

HSC Guidance states that:

"This means that in principle, the same information should be provided to any person who makes the same request, and when that information has been disclosed it must be assumed to be fully open for the future. "

What counts as a request?
Requests for recorded information may be in any form and need not mention the FOIA 2000. They may be received by anyone in the HSE or other public body including press officers and private officers, and requests do not have to be marked in any way.

The only restrictions are that they:

If the person is unable to frame the request in writing - or is unable to frame the request with sufficient precision - the HSE or government body is required to ensure that appropriate assistance is given to enable that person to make a request for information.

Third party Information
The HSE receives a lot of information from companies and other duty-holders. In its guidance HSC/E says:

"Except where prevented from doing so, (e.g. by the FOIA, EI Regulations), HSE will normally release, on request, information it has received from third parties. Where HSE considers that the release of such information could cause embarrassment or adverse publicity to the party that provided HSE with the information, we will notify the party that the information is about to be released. Such a notification should not imply that we are seeking permission to release the information; decisions on whether to release information must be taken solely on the requirements of the FOIA, the EI Regulations and, where relevant, Section 28 of the HSW Act."