FOIA Section 32 Exemption

Section 32: Court Records

Section 32 exempts information contained in certain litigation documents and court, tribunal and inquiry records and will apply regardless of the content of the information. There are separate and specific regimes for gaining access to court and tribunal records and section 32 ensures that those regimes are not superseded by the FOI Act.

Key points:

• Section 32 will apply only if the public authority concerned holds the information solely because it was contained in one of the specified documents.
• Section 32 applies regardless of the content of the information
• The application of section 32 is not subject to any public interest balance.

Official DCA guidance: http://www.dca.gov.uk/foi/guidance/exguide/sec32/index.htm