The complainant has requested a WRATE report (a Waste and Resources Assessment Tool for the Environment) submitted to Hertfordshire County Council by Veolia, a waste management company who submitted a bid to manage its waste management functions. The council claim that the information is subject to the exceptions in Regulation 12(5)(c) (intellectual property rights) and 12(5)(e) (commercial confidentiality). The Commissioner’s decision is that Hertfordshire County Council was not correct to apply Regulation 12(5)(e). The Commissioner also considers that the council was not correct to apply Regulation 12(5)(c) (intellectual property rights). He considers that the information is subject to copyright protection however the harm is not caused to Veolia. The initial disclosure would not however infringe copyright as the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (the CDPA) provides that acts authorised by statute, such as a disclosure under the EIR, are permitted. Losing control over the future use of the information would not therefore be caused by a loss of the copyright. Instead the specified harm is due to the disclosure of commercially sensitive information. The commercially sensitive information cannot be excluded under Regulation 12(5)(e) as it is information on emissions. Regulation 12(9) excludes the application of Regulation 12(5)(e) to information on emissions. The Commissioner therefore requires the public authority to disclose the information to the complainant.
Section of Act/EIR and Finding: EIR 12.5.c – Complaint Upheld, EIR 12.5.e – Complaint Upheld
Citations:
[2013] UKICO FER0445318
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Information
Updated: 11 June 2022; Ref: scu.527827
