Secretary of State for Defence (Ministry of Defence)

The complainant submitted a request to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) about weapons smuggling from Serbia to Kosovo. The MOD initially confirmed that it held information falling within the scope of the request but considered this to be exempt from disclosure on the basis of sections 26 (defence) and 27 (international relations) of FOIA. At the internal review stage the MOD determined that section 12(2) (cost limit) of FOIA applied to part of the request and therefore on the basis of this provision refused to comply with the entirety of the request. The Commissioner’s decision is that the MOD can rely on section 12(2) of FOIA to refuse to comply with the entire request. However the MOD’s handling of this request resulted in procedural breaches of the legislation, namely sections 10(1) and 17(3).