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Paperclips"A person who requests information from a Scottish public authority which holds it is entitled to be given it by the authority."
Freedom Of Information (Scotland) Act 2002

 

The Freedom Of Information (Scotland) Act came into force on 1st January 2005 and will ensure that any person requesting information from a public body will receive that information, subject to certain exemptions. The Act encourages public authorities to be more open and accountable, and to organise their information in an efficient and accessible way.

You can find out more in the "Your Rights" section of the website, or by viewing a copy of the Act:

Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002

Find out the main differences between the equivalent UK legislation, the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 in our comparative table:

Comparative Table: Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002

Section 60 Code of Practice: Discharge of functions under the Act

The Scottish Ministers have issued a code of practice that provides guidance to Scottish public authorities. It describes the desired practice that authorities should follow in discharging their functions under the Act and is available in pdf format on the Scottish Government's website:

Section 60 Code of Practice

Section 60 Code of Practice online

Section 61 Code of Practice: Records Management

A code of practice has also been issued by the Scottish Ministers that provides guidance to Scottish public authorities in connection with the keeping, management and destruction of the authorities' records. It is available in pdf format on the Scottish Government's website:

Section 61 Code of Practice

To further assist Scottish public authorities in the process of developing records management
arrangements that comply with the s.61 code of practice, the Keeper of the Records of Scotland has published a model action plan that was compiled by the Scottish Freedom of Information Implementation Group’s sub-group on Records Management. The plan, which is available in pdf format on the National Archives of Scotland website, should be read in conjunction with the s.61 code:

PDF iconModel Action Plan for developing Records Management (262KB)

Section 62 Code of Practice: Environmental Information

The Scottish Ministers have developed a code of practice to assist Scottish public authorities when dealing with requests for environmental information under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.  The Section 62 code is available from the Scottish Government's website:

Section 62 Code of Practice (environmental information)

Further guidance on dealing with requests for environmental information can also be found here.

 

Links to legislation:

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