Archived press release
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Charter Will Fail To Increase Access To Government Information
10 March 1997
Friends of the Earth today criticised the Department of the Environment's initiative to promote better access to geographical information.
The publication of the "Charter Standard Statement for Geographic Information" fails to instruct Government agencies and departments to make information available at a reasonable cost, and instead encourages departments and agencies to "provide clear statements on the price of data". This leaves open the door for departments and agencies to charge extortionate fees for public information, which has already been collected at the tax-payer's expense.
In 1992 Friends of the Earth first requested from English Nature - the wildlife protection agency - Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) boundaries and were quoted a charge of £23,250. English Nature stated that this charge was in line with the Government's Tradeable Information Initiative (TII). The TII views data as a tradable commodity on which a profit can be made. However, following pressure from Friends of the Earth, English Nature reduced their charge to £225, a figure in keeping with the 'reasonable cost' for environmental information, as stated in the Environmental Information Regulations 1992.
Susan Pipes, Environmental Data Unit Manager at Friends of the Earth said
"Access to affordable and reasonably priced data is essential for monitoring the state of the environment and is crucial to the activities of independent groups like Friends of the Earth. Environmental data must be made available at a reasonable cost."
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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust
Last modified: Dec 2008
