Page 254 - Law and the Media

Freedom of Information
information to be processed or the need to retrieve information from files not in current use
would require unreasonable diversion of resources.

Publication
Information that is or will soon be published will generally not be provided. Note also that
information whose disclosure, where the material relates to a planned or potential
announcement or publication, could cause harm, for example of a physical or financial
nature, will not be provided unless public interest outweighs the harm that is likely to arise
from disclosure.

Research, statistics and analysis
Information relating to incomplete analysis, research or statistics, where disclosure could be
misleading or deprive the holder of priority of publication or commercial value, will not be
disclosed.

This category also includes information held only for preparing statistics or carrying out
research, or for surveillance for health and safety purposes, including food safety, and which
relates to individuals, companies or products that will not be identified in reports of that
research or surveillance, or in published statistics.

Privacy of an individual
Information will not be provided if it will amount to unwarranted disclosure to a third party
of personal information about any person including a deceased person, or any other
disclosure that would constitute or could facilitate an unwarranted invasion of privacy. This
is supported and reinforced by the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Article 8 right to privacy
incorporated into English law by the Human Rights Act 1998.

Commercial confidences by a third party
Information relating to commercial confidences, trade secrets or intellectual property whose
unwarranted disclosure would harm the competitive position of a third party will not be
disclosed.

Information given in confidence
In the context of the law of confidence, the Code limits access to:

Information given in confidence by a person who gave the information under a
statutory guarantee that its confidentiality would be protected or by a person who
was not under any legal obligation, whether actual or implied, to supply it and has
not consented to its disclosure.
Information whose disclosure without the consent of the supplier would prejudice
the future supply of such information.
Medical information provided in confidence if disclosure to the subject would
harm their physical or mental health, or should only be made by a medical
practitioner.
217