Ministry of Justice

The complainant requested details of the complete contract held between the Ministry of Justice and Registry Trust Ltd for maintaining the Register of Judgments, Orders and Fines, together with information on associated charges, costs and the surplus paid into the Consolidated Fund. The public authority originally provided a copy of the contract but with some information redacted by reference to section 43(2) (commercial interests) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the “Act”). During the course of the Commissioner’s investigation the public authority disclosed an unredacted version of the contract, thereby disclosing all of the requested information which it held. As the information has now been provided the Commissioner has not considered whether or not the exemptions cited were properly engaged. He has decided that the public authority’s handling of the request resulted in one or more procedural breaches of the Act, as explained in this Notice.