The Information Tribunal was a

tribunal A tribunal, generally, is any person or institution with authority to judge, adjudicate on, or determine claims or disputes—whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title. For example, an advocate who appears before a court with a singl ...

non-departmental public body In the United Kingdom, non-departmental public body (NDPB) is a classification applied by the Cabinet Office, Treasury, the Scottish Government, and the Northern Ireland Executive to public sector organisations that have a role in the process o ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It was established as the Data Protection Tribunal to hear appeals under the

Data Protection Act 1984 The Data Protection Act 1998 (c. 29) (DPA) was an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom designed to protect personal data stored on computers or in an organised paper filing system. It enacted provisions from the European Union (EU) Data Pro ...

. Its name was changed to reflect its wider responsibilities under other freedom of information legislation, as it then heard appeals from notices issued by

Information Commissioner The role of information commissioner differs from nation to nation. Most commonly it is a title given to a government regulator in the fields of freedom of information and the protection of personal data in the widest sense. The office often fun ...

under two Acts of Parliament, the

Data Protection Act 1998 The Data Protection Act 1998 (c. 29) (DPA) was an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom designed to protect personal data stored on computers or in an organised paper filing system. It enacted provisions from the European Union (EU) Data Pr ...

and 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 ...

, and two related Statutory Instruments, the

Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 is a law in the United Kingdom which made it unlawful to, amongst other things, transmit an automated recorded message for direct marketing purposes via a telephone, without ...

and the

Environmental Information Regulations 2004 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. ...

. In 2010 the tribunal became part of the General Regulatory Chamber of the

First-tier Tribunal The First-tier Tribunal is a first-instance general tribunal in the United Kingdom. It was created in 2008 as part of a programme, enacted in the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, to rationalise the tribunal system, and has since t ...

, referred to as the First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights), as part of the reform of the structure of the UK system of tribunals. The last Chairman of the tribunal was lawyer John Angel, formerly of

Clifford Chance Clifford Chance LLP is a British multinational law firm headquartered in London, England, and a member of the " Magic Circle", a group of leading London-based multinational law firms. In 2022-2023 Clifford Chance was the third largest law fir ...

, and now a consultant with Jomati and a Visiting Professorial Fellow at

Queen Mary, University of London Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and formerly Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of London. Today, ...

br>
There were nine Deputy Chairmen, all of whom were experienced

solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...

s or

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

External links

Website
Former courts and tribunals in the United Kingdom Defunct non-departmental public bodies of the United Kingdom government Ministry of Justice (United Kingdom) Freedom of information in the United Kingdom 1984 establishments in the United Kingdom 2010 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Courts and tribunals established in 1984 Courts and tribunals disestablished in 2010 {{UK-law-stub