An NHS trust has grounds for refusing an FOI request because of time already spent on it, even where that request was dealt with in error, according to the Information Tribunal. Section 12 of the FOI Act 2000 provides an exemption where cost of compliance exceeds an appropriate limit. The current time limit is set at 18 hours and the tribunal held that the trust could rely upon this limit even where the trust had not properly dealt with the request. This will be of significance to any institutions involved in FOI responses where misunderstandings may arise as to the nature of a detailed request. For the full article, please go to: http://www.out-law.com/default.aspx?page=10075
(10/06/09)