Which bodies are subject to the Environmental Information Regulations?

The Freedom of Information Act includes a list of public authorities that it covers, working out whether a body is subject to the Environmental Information Regulations is much more difficult:

Public administration

In the Port of London case, one of the issues the Tribunal considered was whether the PLA constituted a public authority for the purposes of regulation 2(2)(c) EIR. The Commissioner put forward the following factors, which he considered were to be taken into account: :

• whether the functions exercised by the ‘public authority’ are typically governmental in nature;
• whether the functions of the body in question form part of a statutory scheme of regulation;
• whether, if those functions did not exist, some governmental provision would need to be made for the exercise of those functions;
• whether the organisation has a statutory basis, or whether it exists purely as a matter of contract; and
• whether the organisation is accountable to members or shareholders, or to government.

The Information Tribunal found this list “helpful”.[1]