The Upper Tribunal (the “UT”) in Information Commissioner v Poplar Housing Association and Regeneration Community Association [2020] UKUT 182 (AAC) has dismissed the Information Commissioner’s appeal against a decision by the First-tier Tribunal (the “FTT”), confirming a housing association was not a “public authority” for the purposes of regulation 2(2)(c) of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 … Read more

The Information Commissioner recently published two decision notices in short succession which found that gas and electricity supplier, E.ON UK plc (“E.ON”), and Heathrow Airport Ltd (“HAL”) were both “public authorities” for the purposes of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (the “EIR”) under regulation 2(2)(c). Public authorities under regulation 2(2)(c) are “any other body or … Read more

The First-tier Tribunal (“FTT”) in Poplar Housing Association and Regeneration Community Association (“Poplar”) v Information Commissioner and Peoples Information Centre (EA/2018/0199) has provided some further clarity, as well as its own opinion, on when a private organisation may be considered a “public authority” for the purposes of regulation 2(2)(c) of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (the “EIR”). … Read more

The Court of Appeal in Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy v The Information Commissioner and Alex Henney [2017] EWCA Civ 844 has upheld an Upper Tribunal (“UT“) decision that information about the communications and data component of a Smart Meter Programme (the “Programme“) constitutes “environmental information” for the purposes of regulation 2(1) of the Environmental … Read more