British Museum

The complainant has requested information from the British Museum (the Museum) regarding the Ethiopian tabots. The Museum provided some information but withheld other information citing section 14(2) (repeated request), section 21 (information accessible to the applicant by other means), section 27 (international relations), and section 36 (prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs) of FOIA. The Museum also refused to confirm or deny whether it had sought legal advice (section 42(2) of FOIA). The Commissioner’s decision is that the Museum is entitled to rely on section 27(1) of FOIA and that the public interest favours non-disclosure. He has accepted that section 21 of FOIA is also engaged. However, the Commissioner has decided that the Museum has failed to demonstrate that issuing a confirmation or a denial would, in itself, disclose information to which legal professional privilege could be maintained and is therefore not entitled to rely on section 42(2) of FOIA. The Commissioner requires the Museum to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation:
• Confirm or deny whether it holds any information falling within the scope of part iv) of the request.
• To the extent that any information is held, either disclose that information or issue a refusal notice that complies with section 17 of FOIA.

Please note that the second bullet point in the third paragraph of this decision notice was included in error and should be ignored.