Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

The complainant has requested information about a potential sanitary and phytosanitary agreement with the European Union. The above public authority relied on various limbs of section 27 (international relations) and, latterly, section 21 of FOIA (reasonably accessible) to withhold information. The Commissioner’s decision is that the public authority has correctly relied upon section 27 of FOIA and that the balance of the public interest favours maintaining the exemption. It has not correctly applied section 21 of FOIA. The public authority breached section 17 of FOIA as it failed to provide a refusal notice, citing all the exemptions upon which it wished to rely, within 20 working days. Finally, the public authority breached section 10(3) of FOIA as it failed to complete its public interest considerations within a reasonable timeframe. The Commissioner requires the public authority to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation: indicate, to the complainant, where the information that it has relied on section 21 of FOIA to withhold can be accessed.