Marine Management Organisation
- Date 27 April 2022
- Sector Central government
- Decision(s) EIR 12.4.a: Not upheld, EIR 12.5.b: Not upheld, EIR 5.2: Upheld
The complainant has requested information relating to the Marine Management Organisation’s (MMO) investigation into the Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company. The request was broken down into 9 parts. The MMO disclosed some information and confirmed that the rest was exempt from disclosure in accordance with several exceptions of the EIR, including regulation 12(5)(b) (course of justice and inquiries). The MMO also confirmed that it held no information that fell within some parts of the request. The Commissioner’s decision is that:
• The MMO is entitled to withhold all information in accordance with regulation 12(5)(b).
• On the balance of probabilities, the MMO does not hold any information that falls the scope of some parts of the request and regulation 12(4)(a) is engaged.
• However, in failing to disclose all relevant information that falls within the scope of the request within the appropriate timeframe, the MMO has breached regulation 5(2) of the EIR.