Department for International Trade

The complainant has requested information concerning the names of companies applying for licences for the export of equipment with Military List ratings during 2016 and the destination countries and Military List ratings of such exports. Department for International Trade provided the complainant with a list of all companies which applied for licences for the export of such equipment during 2016 but withheld the remainder of the information requested under section 41(1)(information provided in confidence) and section 43(2)(prejudice to commercial interests.  The Commissioner’s decision is that Department for International Trade correctly applied the section 41(1) exemption to the withheld information and there is no valid public interest defence which would override that duty of confidentiality.