Environmental information regulation

The Environmental Information Regulations give you the right to ask for information about the environment, which is held by public authorities. If you feel a public authority has wrongly withheld information from you, you can complain.

What can I complain about?

You can complain on any of the following grounds:

failure to provide the information you requested
failure to respond to your request within 20 working days (or failure to explain why longer than 20 working days is needed)
failure to give you proper advice and assistance
failure to give information in the form in which you requested it
failure to properly explain any reasons for refusing the request
failure to correctly apply an exception under the regulations
failure to fulfil pro-active dissemination requirements
charges.

Who should I complain to?

Firstly, you should complain directly to the public authority itself. Public authorities should provide their own complaints procedure.

If the authority has no complaints procedure or if you do not believe it has dealt with your complaint properly, you may contact us. You should do this as soon as possible or in any case within two months following the final response of the public authority.

What do we need to deal with your complaint?

In order for us to deal with your complaint properly, you should write to us at the address below, sending:

a covering letter giving us details of your complaint
details of your initial request
a copy of the public authorities initial response (known as the refusal notice)
a copy of the complaint you made to the public authorities internal review or complaints procedure
a copy of the public authorities response
any other information you think is relevant
your contact details.

Alternatively you can complete our Environmental Information Regulations complaints form (PDF version). If all evidence in support of your complaint is available electronically, please complete our complaint form (word version) document and save it to your computer before submitting it as an attachment, along with any evidence, to our online enquiry form.

Before completing your complaints form, please read this webpage or our freedom of information and environmental information regulations - when and how to complain leaflet.

How will we deal with your complaint?

We will send an acknowledgement on receiving a complaint.

Your complaint will be allocated to a caseworker and if we cannot resolve your complaint informally, we will issue a decision notice. We will send it to you and to the public authority you have complained about.

If we cannot deal with your complaint, we will write to you explaining why.

What is a decision notice?

A decision notice outlines the Information Commissioner's final assessment as to whether or not the public authority has complied with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

If we decide the public authority has not given you the information you are entitled to, we will instruct it to do so.

At the same time as issuing a decision notice, we will send you details of your right to appeal to the Information Tribunal. The public authority may also appeal.

See our latest decision notices

What if the public authority ignores a decision notice?

If a public authority ignores a notice, the Information Commissioner can make an application to the High Court. The court will investigate and may deal with the authority as if it has committed contempt of court. The punishment may be a fine or even imprisonment.