Government and Information Rights

Book excerpt: Government and Information: The Law Relating to Access, Disclosure and their Regulation is the leading text offering comprehensive and practical advice on the access, disclosure and retention of government records under UK, EU and ECHR requirements. It is essential reading for all those dealing with public authority information. The fifth edition is extensively revised following numerous developments in both UK and EU law as well as the ever expanding case law on information rights under statutory, Convention and common law provisions. Legislation: Justice and Security Act 2013; Crime and Courts Act 2013 (s 34 in relation to press standards following Leveson); Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015 Investigatory Powers Bill 2016; Environmental Information Regulations 2004; General Data Protection Regulation 2016; Key cases since the last edition include: Evans v Attorney General [2015] UKSC 21 - the SC ruled that the Attorney General had acted unlawfully in issuing a veto preventing disclosure Kennedy v Charities Commission [2014] UKSC 20 - Supreme Court extended the ambit of the common law in relation to access to information and transparency Case 362/14 Schrems [2015]) - involving data transfer to the USA PJS v Newsgroup Newspapers ltd [2016] UKSC 26 – developing the law of personal privacy