Cabinet Office

The complainant requested details of every case in which the European Commission had issued a formal letter under Article 226 (a letter of formal notice requesting that a Member State respond to allegations that it is in beach of European Community law). The public authority withheld the information held on the basis of the exemptions at 27(1)(b), 27(2) (International relations), and 35(1)(a) (Formulation or development of government policy). The Commissioner finds that sections 27(1)(b) and 27(2) were not engaged but that section 35(1)(a) was correctly engaged. The Commissioner has however decided the withheld information should be disclosed because in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption at section 35(1)(a) did not outweigh the public interest in disclosure. The Commissioner additionally finds the public authority in breach of sections 10(1) (Time for compliance with request), 17(1), and 17(3) (b) (Refusal of request).