Jamie Potter questions the “absolute” exemptions to disclosure under FIA 2000
In Kennedy v Charity Commission EA/2008/0083, the First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights) gave detailed consideration to whether the absolute exemptions to disclosure contained in the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FIA 2000) interfered with the right to freedom of communication as protected by the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA 1998). In their report on the issue to the Court of Appeal, the First-tier Tribunal found that, in certain circumstances, a public authority’s refusal to disclose information could amount to such an interference, and, as a result, absolute exemptions may not be as absolute as they appear.
However, before the matter could be considered by the Court of Appeal ([2012] EWCA Civ 317), a similar issue arose in a separate case before the Supreme Court, BBC v Sugar (No. 2) [2012] UKSC 4; [2012] All ER (D) 108 (Feb), with three of the five justices of the Supreme Court explicitly addressing the issue, and concluding that no such interference would arise.
Background to Kennedy
In 1998, George Galloway, then a Labour MP, launched the
