Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The complainant asked the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for research papers related to Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence in February 2008. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office provided some information but refused to provide the remainder on the basis of the following exemptions: prejudice to international relations (section 27), formulation and development of government policy (section 35) and unfair processing of personal data (section 40). The Commissioner’s decision is that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is entitled to withhold the majority of the remainder on the basis of the exemptions it has cited. However, it should disclose a small amount of personal data that it previously withheld. In failing to provide this personal data, it contravened the requirements of section 1 and 10 of the Act.