Prohibitions on disclosure

Guidance on the use of FOISA section 26

Information will be exempt from disclosure under section 26 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) where disclosure:

is prohibited by or under an enactment;
is incompatible with an EU obligation; or
would constitute, or be punishable as, contempt of court.

The exemptions in section 26 are absolute. So, if the information is "prohibited from disclosure", the public authority responding to the request doesn't have to go on to apply the public interest test.

Unlike some other exemptions in FOISA, the exemptions in section 26 can be applied regardless of how old the information is.

Download the briefing

Section 26 exemption briefing