[2024] UKUT 320 (AAC)

The Commissioner’s guidance on regulation 6 explains there is no geographical limit, or distance, beyond which information is not easily accessible for inspection. Any decision about whether information is easily accessible depends on the circumstances.

In the circumstances of this case, the Commissioner recognises that the complainant would need to travel to the Centre, incurring both time and cost, which would multiply depending on the amount of separate visits needed.

However, the Commissioner also recognises that the information is made available for inspection at the Centre, which is a local records office. The Commissioner notes that the purpose of a local records office is to maintain historic records and allow their public inspection.

The Commissioner’s guidance on regulation 6 (and specifically the section on ‘Inspection’) explains that it is an expectation of the EIR that the public may inspect information at facilities “which the public authority makes available for that examination” (regulation 8(2)(b)).

The same guidance explains that the “establishment and maintenance” of such facilities is a specific requirement of Article 3(5)(c) of the European Council Directive 2003/4/EC, which the EIR implements in UK law.

Whilst the Commissioner recognises that the complainant will need to bear the cost of visiting the Centre, he is satisfied that the information is publicly available and easily accessible to the complainant by virtue of it being available for inspection at a facility established and maintained for the purpose (i.e. the local records office).

As the Commissioner is satisfised that the information is both publicly available and easily accessible to the complainant, he finds that regulation 6(1)(b) is engaged.