The British-Russia Centre and East-West Centre

The complainant requested information about the appointment of election monitors. The British-Russia Centre and East-West Centre stated that it did not hold the requested information but argued that it was no longer a public authority for the purposes of the FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that, whilst the Centre is indisputably listed in schedule 1 of the FOIA, it no longer satisfies the second condition set out in section 4(3) of the FOIA. Therefore, by virtue of section 4(4) of the FOIA, the Centre has ceased to be a public authority for the purposes of the FOIA and it was not obliged to comply with the request. As the Centre is not a public authority, the Commissioner has no power to require it to take further steps. Given the implications of her decision and her general duties under section 47 of the FOIA, the Commissioner considers it necessary to make recommendations to the Cabinet Office. These are discussed under the “Other Matters” section of this notice.