A summary

11 December 2008

From 1 January 2005 you have powerful rights of access to all information held by public authorities unless a specific exception allows the authority to refuse to give you the information.

Access to environmental information is governed by the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR). Access to all other information is governed by the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). Remember, these rights are in addition to the powerful rights that you already have to information held by Local Authorities and your rights of access to information held on public registers.

Some features are common to all requests for information (whether environmental or other):

• Authorities must respond as soon as possible and at the very latest within 20 working days.
• Authorities must give detailed reasons for any refusal to release information.
• Authorities have a legal duty to provide advice and assistance. This means that they must help you to draft your request if necessary.
• You have a legal right to a free appeal to the Information Commissioner if you are refused information or if your request is not treated properly. Before doing so, you should make a formal written complaint to the authority that refused your request, asking them to reconsider.
• There are legal limits to the amounts that may be charged for information. Authorities must have a charging scheme which you can consult.
• The Government has published 'Codes of Practice' for how authorities should comply with their new obligations. These help you check that your rights are being respected and that authorities are behaving properly.

However, there are also a few key differences between the two regimes:

• Requests for environmental information need not be in writing (they have exactly the same legal effect if you ask for information by phone or in person). However, we advise people to put all information requests in writing unless they can be dealt with immediately and simply.
• The grounds on which authorities can refuse to release environmental information are much narrower than for other information.
• The grounds on which authorities can refuse to release environmental information only ever apply where the public interest favours withholding the information.
• The Environmental Information Regulations also apply to many private bodies including waste companies, water companies, power generating companies, airport operators and others. That means that you can write directly to those companies and request environmental information, and they must give it to you.

Right To Know homepage
Frequently Asked Questions
The Handbook (DOC format - 878K)
Information Request Generator
Other Links