The Environmental
Information
Regulations (EIR)
2004
Fees and Charges Policy
September 2015
Department title – Planning and Enterprise
Current Document Status
Version
Date
Responsible
officer
Approving body
N/a
31 July 2017
Date of formal approval
(if applicable)
N/a
David Foy – Freedom
of Information &
Complaints Team
Leader
Review date
April 2016
1
Version History
Date
Version
Author/Editor
Comments
29 September
2015
1
David Foy/Laura Orton
Published
Comprehensive Impact Assessment Record
Date
Type of
assessment
conducted
Stage/level
completed
(where
applicable)
August 2015
Full
Comprehensive
Impact
Assessment
Full
Summary of
actions
taken
decisions
made
N/a
Completed
by
Impact
Assessment
review date
David Foy
Laura Orton
September 2016
Document retention
Document retention period
EIR Charging Policy
September 2015
tbc
2
Summary
Headlines
This policy sets out the process for determining if an Environmental
Information Regulation (EIR) request will be subject to a charge and if so,
the process of determining the charge to be made, issuing the charge,
receiving payment and processing the request for information.
Distribution - who needs to be aware of this policy?
This Policy applies to all employees of Cornwall Council including elected
Members, contract, agency and temporary staff, volunteers and employees
of partner organisations working for the Council. It also applies to the
Council’s Arm’s Length Organisations including CORMAC, Cornwall Housing
and Cornwall Development Company (CDC) as wholly owned companies of
Cornwall Council.
The EIR Policy applies to all information held by the Council, which may fall
under the EIR Regulations, including information which the Council holds on
behalf of another person. The EIR Policy also applies to information held by
another person on behalf of the Council, including information held by
contractors and partner organisations on the Council’s behalf.
Context
Background - why this policy is needed?
The Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) give rights of public
access to information held by public authorities. The aim of the EIRs is to
ensure comprehensive access to environmental information.
The EIRs allow public authorities to charge for making environmental
information available, but any charge must be reasonable. The Information
Commissioner’s Office (ICO) states that any charges should be compatible
with encouraging transparency and should not be an obstacle to such
access.
In general, a reasonable charge may include the disbursements costs in
transferring the information to the applicant and the staff time taken to
locate the information. This is in contrast to the Freedom of Information
Act (FOIA) where disbursements are the only charges permitted unless the
appropriate costs limit is exceeded.
This policy sets out how Cornwall Council and Arm’s Length Companies
should comply with the charging regime laid out in Regulation 8 of the EIRs
and, in particular, what constitutes a “reasonable amount”. As a general
rule the charges should not exceed the actual costs of producing the
material in question, the purpose of charging is to recover the costs
incurred in complying with requests and managing demand.
EIR Charging Policy
September 2015
3
Objectives
In light of updated guidance from the ICO regarding “Charging for
Environmental Information”, this policy sets out Cornwall Council’s process
for charging for EIR requests.
Scope – what the policy covers
This policy relates to information requests processed under the
Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR). If the information is
not environmental information, the EIRs are not relevant and public
authorities will instead need to consider the charging regime under FOI,
details of which are contained in separate guidance.
Policy details
** To be read in conjunction with the attached flowchart
What is Environmental Information?
Only environmental information can be charged for under this policy. Care
will therefore need to be taken when logging EIR requests to ensure that
they do come under the Regulations. However, where a request is logged
under FOI, this does not prevent the request being dealt with under EIR
where it becomes apparent that this is the correct regime.
For guidance on what the ICO considers is Environmental Information –
follow this link:
http://ico.org.uk/for_organisations/environmental_information/guide/~/me
dia/documents/library/Environmental_info_reg/Introductory/EIR_WHAT_IS_
ENVIRONMENTAL_INFORMATION.ashx
What can be charged?
There are two types of activity under EIR that public authorities can charge
for:
1) The cost of staff time spent locating, retrieving and extracting the
information;
2) The costs incurred when printing or copying the information and sending
to the applicant; and
The Council must be able to demonstrate why a charge in a particular case
is reasonable. The Council should provide a breakdown of charges so the
requestor can understand the basis for the fee. Staff should use the Council
“FOI/EIR Charging Template” (Appendix A of the EIR flowchart) to
demonstrate this.
EIR Charging Policy
September 2015
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What cannot be charged for?
There are three costs the Council cannot charge for:
1) the costs of maintaining a register of information or a database;
2) overhead costs (eg wider staff overheads); and
3) staff time spent reviewing and redacting information (although there are
cases where staff time in this instance can be taken into account when
considering if a request is Vexatious/Manifestly Unreasonable due to
excessive burden on staff resource and time).
In addition, the ICO is clear that requestors should not be unfairly penalised
in cases where the authority has failed to keep records in a reasonably
accessible state. Therefore where the Council’s systems prevent easy access
to information purely because of records management issues, staff should
fully consider whether it is appropriate to charge.
We also cannot charge applicants for inspecting the information or
accessing public registers or lists of environmental information.
The Council cannot make a charge specifically for allowing access to the
information in situ. However, the EIRs do allow the Council to make a
charge to recover the costs of locating the information and collating it in
order to make it available for inspection. A charge made for locating and
collating information to be inspected must be reasonable. If the information
is held in a system that allows for straightforward public access it is unlikely
that a charge is reasonable. If a requestor asks for inspection of material
that would require a significant cost to prepare for inspection, the EIR
allows the authority to make a charge.
Schedule of Charges
Public authorities must have a published schedule of charges in order to be
able to charge applicants for environmental information. Currently the
Council uses the following rates:
£25 - as the hourly rate for calculating the value of staff time. The ICO
have indicated that it is reasonable for public authorities to use the rate
under the FOI Act of £25.
10p per A4 sheet (for photocopying charges)
More detailed costs can be found on the Council’s FOI/EIR Charging
Template – see Appendix A of flowchart
Charging Threshold
The authority will only charge for EIR requests where the time taken to
comply with the request is estimated to exceed 5.5 hours. As stated above,
staff should use the Council “FOI/EIR Charging Template” (Appendix A) to
estimate how long it will take to comply with a request. If complying with a
request which will exceed the 5.5 hours threshold, the requestor will be
charged for the total number of hours it takes to complete the request. For
example, if it is estimated that complying with a request will take 8 hours,
the requestor will be charged for 8 hours, not just for the 2.5 hours that
exceeds the threshold.
EIR Charging Policy
September 2015
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Manifestly Unreasonable
Where it is estimated that complying with a request will exceed 18 hours,
the Council will consider whether the request is in fact Manifestly
Unreasonable under Regulation 12(4)(b) of the EIRs and will use existing
procedures for doing so, including applying the Public Interest Test and
proving advice and assistance to the requestor in order to narrow down the
scope of their request. The 18 hour timeframe is that used under the FOIA
to determine if a request exceeds an appropriate limit.
Issuing a Charge
The decision to issue a charge needs to be made promptly and within 3
working days of the receipt of the request wherever possible, in order to
ensure that deadlines for responding to requests are met. To issue a
charge, the EIR Fees Notice Letter (Appendix B of flowchart) should be sent
to the requestor, which informs the requestor that a fee is payable, how the
fee was calculated, how to make payment, how long the requestor has to
make a payment, and if they are concerned about the level of costs gives
the requestor the option of narrowing down their request.
Advance Payment
In all cases where a fee is charged, payment will be required in advance of
disclosure. The fee charged will be based on an estimated cost calculated
from the completion of the Charging Template. Requestors will have 60
days for payment to reach the council. Where payment is not received, it
will be assumed that the information is no longer required and the request
terminated.
Payment can be made by phone by calling 0300 1234 100, or by cash or
cheque in person at a One Stop Shop. The requestor must quote the Lagan
reference number when making the payment and advise that payment is in
relation to an EIR request. The payment will then be assigned under the
relevant Ledger Code by the Council.
Refunds
If the actual cost of complying with the request turns out to be less than the
estimate, the balance will be returned to the requestor if it exceeds £5.
Therefore each service will keep a record of the number of hours spent on
requests where a charge is made in order to ensure consistency and for
audit purposes.
In addition, if the authority fails to comply with the 20 working day limit to
comply with the request (or 40 working days where extended due to the
case being “complex or voluminous” ), a refund will be issued to the
requestor.
Affordability Issues
The Council recognises that paying a charge will not be financially viable for
some people. The Council will therefore offer requestors reasonable advice
and assistance in order to help them narrow down the scope of their
request, to bring them within the charging threshold.
EIR Charging Policy
September 2015
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Management
Policy management
The Corporate FOI and Complaints Team is responsible for implementing
and managing the policy, in conjunction with relevant services and partners.
Breaches and non-compliance
Should it be discovered that this Policy has not been complied with, or if an
intentional breach of Policy has taken place, the relevant service, in
consultation with senior management, shall have full authority to take
immediate steps as considered necessary, including disciplinary action.
How the impact of the policy will be measured
- Monitor volume of EIR requests received once charging policy introduced
- Number of EIR requests “withdrawn” once charges requested
- Costs recouped by the Council as a result of this policy
- Staff time spent on EIR requests once charging policy introduced
Information to be reported to and collated by the Central FOI & Complaints
Team through liaison with relevant services.
Evaluation and review
Initially this policy will be reviewed after 6 months following implementation
to establish its effectiveness and impact. Adjustment to the policy may be
necessary as a result. The Policy will be subject to ongoing review in light
of any changes in legislation or good practice. In particular, the Council will
need to review in light of the outcome of the current appeal to the First Tier
Tribunal in the case of East Sussex County Council v Information
Commissioner and Property Search Group (EZ/2013/0037), which has
referred questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)
relating to what a public authority may charge for supplying environmental
information. It is envisaged that this decision will be made towards the end
of 2015.
Document information
Contacts
Corporate FOI and Complaints Team
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 01872 322223
Further information
http://ico.org.uk/
https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/documents/1627/charging-forenvironmental-information-reg8.pdf
EIR Charging Policy
September 2015
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Alternative formats
If you would like this information in another format please contact:
Cornwall Council, County Hall, Treyew Road, Truro TR1 3AY
Telephone: 0300 1234 100 email: [email protected]
www.cornwall.gov.uk
Please consider the environment. Only print this document if it cannot be
sent electronically.
EIR Charging Policy
September 2015
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