The Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR), UK Statutory Instrument SI 2004 No. 3391, provide a statutory right of access to environmental information held by UK public authorities. The regulations came into force on 1 January 2005. The regulations were made by the

Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs The secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, also referred to as the environment secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for ...

under the authority provided by the European Communities Act 1972, entering into force on 1 January 2005, along with the outstanding parts of the

Freedom of Information Act 2000 The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (c. 36) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that creates a public right of access to information held by public authorities. It is the implementation of freedom of information legislation in t ...

. The Regulations covers UK Central Government and public authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scottish public authorities are covered by the Environmental Information Regulations (Scotland) 2004 (EISR).

Origins

The Environmental Information Regulations 2004 implement the European Council Directive 2003/4/CE on public access to environmental information in the UK. The Directive in turn has as its source in the

Aarhus Convention The UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, usually known as the Aarhus Convention, was signed on 25 June 1998 in the Danish city of Aarhus. It entered into ...

The overriding objective

The main objective of the regulations is encapsulated in Regulation 4, which requires the relevant data holder to engage in a proactive exercise to make the information available for inspection "by electronic means" which inevitably requires the data to be made publicly available online or via an electronic device (e.g. a computer terminal) in a public place. Recognising the reality of a wide diversity of information, the Regulations allow alternative formats, but require that they be "easily accessible" to the public. The principal obligation placed on holders of environmental information is public electronic dissemination.

Definition of 'environmental information'

Environmental information includes information about air, water, soil, land, flora and fauna, energy, noise, waste and emissions. It also includes information about "the state of human health and safety", and decisions, policies and activities that affect the environment. It is accepted by the UK Government that most

map A map is a symbolic depiction of interrelationships, commonly spatial, between things within a space. A map may be annotated with text and graphics. Like any graphic, a map may be fixed to paper or other durable media, or may be displayed on ...

s will contain environmental information.

Public authorities

The coverage of the Environmental Information Regulations is greater than that of the

, although there are bodies such as the BBC which are covered by the Freedom of Information Act but not by the EIR. While the Freedom of Information Act sets out a list of the bodies and classes of bodies that are public authorities, the EIR is less prescriptive. Security service

MI5 MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), officially the Security Service, is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Gov ...

acknowledges that its activities are covered by the EIR, and has published Environmental Information on its website. The regulations were originally interpreted by the Information Commissioner to include water companies; however, the Upper Tribunal ruled that they are not subject to the Regulations. This was later superseded by the CJEU ruling, which extended public authorities to a much wider definition including private companies.

Requests under the regulations

Requests for information under the Regulations can be made in writing or verbally, unlike requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 which must be made in writing. The exceptions that public authorities can use to withhold information under the Regulations are narrower in their scope and application than the exemptions contained in the Act. As with the Act, public authorities have 20 working days from the receipt of a request to provide the information to the requester or to explain the exceptions that apply. The Information Commissioner is responsible for dealing with complaints against public authorities related to EIR. The Scottish Information Commissioner is responsible for dealing with complaints against public authorities related to equivalent Scottish regulations.

Repeal

Upon entry into force of these regulations, they replaced the Environmental Information Regulations 1992 and the Environmental Information Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1993 and two other statutory instruments that amended those regulations.

References

External links

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Guidance on EIR from the Information Commissioner's OfficeInformation on EIR in Scotland from the Scottish Information Commissioner
{{UK legislation Statutory instruments of the United Kingdom 2004 in British law Freedom of information in the United Kingdom Environment of the United Kingdom 2004 in the environment