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Section 37

Court Records

  • The briefing below provides guidance on the consideration and application of the exemption under section 37 (Court records, etc.) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) and the exception under regulation 10(5)(b) of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (the EIRs).
  • Section 37 of FOISA only applies to information that is held by a public authority solely because it is contained in a document that appears in a 'court record'.
  • The briefing discusses what is required for a document to be a 'court record' for the purposes of section 37.
  • Section 37 is an absolute exemption and is therefore not subject to the public interest test.
  • There is no direct equivalent to section 37 in the EIRs. Regulation 10(5)(b), however, may be relevant when considering requests for environmental information which is contained in court records.
  • Regulation 10(5)(b) is subject to the public interest test.

The briefing below is intended to provide general guidance on the interpretation and application of the relevant sections. Please remember that all requests for information must be considered on a case by case basis - the Commissioner's decision is made on the basis of the specific circumstances of each case.

PDF iconDownload the briefing (PDF - 172kb)

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