What are the Environmental Information Regulations?
The Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 came into force 1 January 2005.
They place two principal requirements on 'Scottish public authorities'. For the purposes of this legislation the University of Edinburgh is a 'Scottish public authority'.
The two requirements are:
- To make environmental information available on request
- To actively disseminate certain types of environmental information
A briefing on the Scottish Environmental Information Regulations has been prepared by Information Compliance Services.
The Regulations
Environmental information and freedom of information
The regulations, alongside the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), enable the public to access information held by Scottish public authorities.
Both pieces of legislation are regulated by the Scottish Information Commissioner, who has produced some guidance outlining the main differences between the two regimes.