FS50079488

Decision Summary

• Case Ref: FS50079488
• Date: 27 November 2006
• Public Authority: Export Credits Guarantee Department
• Summary: The request was for copies of minutes of meetings, agendas and all correspondence prepared for or connected with meetings since January 2004 between the Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD), the CBI and the Airbus consortium relating to ECGD’s revised bribery and corruption procedures. A large bundle of the requested information was made publicly available on the ECGD’s website on the same day as it responded to the complainant’s request. The ECGD refused to provide the remainder of the information because it argued that some of the withheld information related to the formulation and development of government policy (section 35) and that disclosure of some of the information would prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs (section 36). It also cited section 42 (legal professional privilege) and section 23 (security bodies) as grounds for withholding some of the information. The Commissioner’s decision is that the public interest lies in the release of some of the withheld information to which section 35 was applied. However he decided the ECGD had correctly applied section 36 to some of the withheld information and that the public interest lies in withholding the information. The Commissioner also accepts that section 23 of the Act has been correctly applied to some of the information. However he has decided that section 43 has not been correctly applied to some of the information. The Commissioner also did not accept the ECGD’s argument that the production of a schedule of documents constituted the creation of new information.
• View PDF of Decision Notice: [1]

• Section of Act / Finding: FOI 23 - Complaint Not upheld - Find other matching decisions

• Section of Act / Finding: FOI 43 - Complaint Upheld - Find other matching decisions