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Legislation - Acts, Rules, Regulations and Orders

 

This page contains links to the original texts of the laws passed by Parliament about Freedom of Information, Data Protection and Environmental Information.

Most of the links on this page are to information on the Office of Public Sector Information website.

Acts

Freedom of Information Act 2000

Data Protection Act 1998

Secondary Legislation - Rules, Regulations and Orders

Sometimes it is necessary for other laws to be passed to update or give effect to provisions of an Act. These additional laws are called 'secondary' or 'subordinate' legislation and usually take the form of Rules, Regulations or Orders.

This page contains links to secondary legislation relating to Freedom of Information. For Data Protection secondary legislation, please see our Data Protection pages.

• Commencement Orders - bring provisions of the Act into force
• Coverage Orders - update the list of organizations to which the Act applies
• Other Orders under FOI - fees regulations, procedural rules, removal of prohibitions on disclosure etc.
• Environmental Information Regulations - implement the Aarhus Convention governing access to environmental information

Commencement Orders

• The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (Commencement No.5) Order 2004 This Order brought all provisions of the Act fully into force on 1 January 2005 . A photograph of Lord Falconer signing the Order is available .

• The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (Commencement No.4) Order 2004 (SI 2004 No 1909 (C.81)) - This order brings into force on 1 January 2005 various provisions needed to enable the enforcement of the Environmental Information Regulations .
• The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (Commencement No. 3) Order 2003 (SI 2003 No 2603 (C.97)) - This order brought into force the provisions which implemented the final three stages of the publication scheme timetable, and placed a duty on the bodies listed to comply with the publication scheme provisions of the Act (from 31st October 2003, 29 February 2004 and 30 June 2004 respectively for the bodies indicated).
• The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (Commencement No 2) Order 2002 (SI 2002 No 2812 (C 86)) - This order brought into force the provisions which implemented the first three stages of the FOI implementation timetable and placed a duty on the bodies listed to comply with the publication scheme provisions of the Act (from 30 November 2002, 28 February 2003 and 30 June 2003 respectively for the bodies indicated). (For further details of the commencement timetable see Annex A of the Second Annual Report on Implementation).
• The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (Commencement No 1) Order 2001 (SI 2001 No 1637(C 56)) - Brought into force, for the most part, technical provisions of the Act.

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Coverage Orders

These Orders add bring organisations within the effect of the FOI Act:

• The Freedom of Information (Additional Public Authorities) Order 2005 (SI 2005 No 3593)
• The Freedom of Information (Additional Public Authorities) Order 2004 (SI 2004 No 938)
• The Freedom of Information (Additional Public Authorities) Order 2003 (SI 2003 No 1882)
• The Freedom of Information (Additional Public Authorities) Order 2002 (SI 2002 No 2623)

These Orders remove bodies which have ceased to exist, or ceased to meet the necessary criteria, from the coverage of the Act.

• The Freedom of Information (Removal of References to Public Authorities) Order 2005 (SI 2005 No 3594)
• The Freedom of Information (Removal of References to Public Authorities) Order 2004 (SI 2004 No 1641)
• The Freedom of Information (Removal of References to Public Authorities) Order 2003 (SI 2003 No 1883)
• The Freedom of Information (Excluded Welsh Authorities) Order 2002 (SI 2002 No 2832) - This order excludes certain public authorities from the definition of "Welsh public authority" for the purposes of the Act.

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Other Orders under Freedom of Information

• Freedom of Information (Time for Compliance with Request) Regulations 2004
  This Order extends the deadline for answering a request for information in certain limited circumstances.
• Freedom of Information (Removal and Relaxation of Statutory Prohibitions on Disclosure) Order 2004
  This Order amends or repeals eight items of legislation which could have prevented information being released under the Freedom of Information Act.
• Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004
  These regulations set out the fees which public authorities can charge for answering requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act. They describe the 'appropriate limit' above which requests need not be answered for cost reasons, and describe how this should be calculated. They also set out the maximum fee that can be charged both when a request exceeds, or does not exceed, the appropriate limit. Guidance on the regulations is also available.
  
  These Orders all came into force on 1 January 2005.
  

Environmental Information Regulations

• Environmental Information Regulations 2004 - These Regulations implement the Aarhus Convention governing access to environmental information. They are similar to the Freedom of Information regime, but have some important differences.

For more information on the Environmental Information Regulations, see the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) website.