Legal

◊ What is Freedom of Information?
The right to Freedom of Information is set out in each country Freedom of Information Acts (FOIA). Usually this act gives everyone a legal right to see information held by public bodies, including The National Archives of each country. Based on (You) have the right to see.
Normally information in the archives was transferred from other government departments to be held under lock and key, so information applies to administrative records could be printed and handed to whom it may concerns under Freedom of Information.
Freedom of Information applies to information, whatever its age, and whether it is at each National Archives or still held by the originating government department.
Information is assumed to be open from the time it is created, unless one of the exemptions set out in the Freedom of Information Acts applies.

There are separate Environmental Information Regulations giving similar rights of access to environmental information.

◊ Making a Freedom of Information request:
Many of the records held by each National Archives are already open to the public. There is no need to make a Freedom of Information request for these records.
If you want us to search for information contained in open records, you can ask us to do this for a fee.
If you want to see a closed record, you can submit a FOI request. We will review the record in consultation with the proper government department on behalf of you. If you would like information from any National Archives you can just make a request in exactly the same way.

◊ Who can make a request for information?
Anyone anywhere in the world can make an FOI request according to each country freedom of Acts. for example (You) do not have to be a UK citizen or live in the UK to ask for reviewing a national archives records of the United Kingdom.

◊ Could my request be refused?
Countries Governments can withhold information under the FOI Acts if it falls within one of a number of listed categories, known as exemptions. There are two types of exemption within the FOI Acts. One protects certain categories of information, or example, we will not release information that would damage international relations or prejudice anyone’s health and safety. The other covers procedural exemptions, for example:

◊ Other Reasons:
A request could also be refused if it would cost too much to comply. The Freedom of Information Acts in some countries allows us to limit the amount of work we do for an individual request for information through a cost limit. This cost limit allows us to refuse a request if it would cost more than £100 to find and provide the requested information. If your request goes over the cost limit, we will try to help you narrow it down.

A request could also be refused if it is vexatious or repeated. each country National Archives has produced guidance on how to treat repeated or vexatious requests (PDF).

◊ What happens if some Archives don’t agree to release information?
Anyone disappointed with the response to their enquiry has the right to ask for official response and a further right of appeal to the proper Information Commissioner.

◊ How long will it take?
Under each country Freedom of Information Acts, we have a duty to reply to your request and to provide the information, unless it is subject to an exemption, within 20 working days.

For closed records, we sometimes have to consult other government departments and the FOI Acts allows us an extra 10 working days to do so.

◊ What if I just want some general help using the archives?
If you are not sure what kind of information is available, or what information you would like to see, you may wish to learn a little about each archives first, thus we could help you.

◊ Copyright:
The material featured on this website is subject to copyright protection and licensed for use under the Open Government Licence unless otherwise indicated.

◊ Want to read more about Freedom of Information Acts?

FOI laws by country:
https://bit.ly/3l5VHCn

Freedom of Information Act:
https://bit.ly/3qsnWwc

What is Open Government License?
https://bit.ly/3ff8qSc

United Kingdom Copyright Act:
https://bit.ly/2WUTh1Z

Federal USA Copyright Act:
https://bit.ly/3Dn59cG

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