Environment Act 1995

30 Records held by SEPA.E+W+S

(1)Subject to subsection (3) below—

(a)this section applies to all records (in whatever form or medium)—

(i)transferred to and vested in SEPA by or under section 22 above;

(ii)created or acquired by it in the exercise of any of its functions; or

(iii)otherwise in its keeping;

(b)SEPA shall ensure that the records, other than such as are mentioned in paragraph (c) below, are preserved and managed in accordance with such arrangements as it, after consulting the Keeper of the Records of Scotland, shall put into effect;

(c)records which in SEPA’s opinion are not worthy of preservation may be disposed of by it;

(d)SEPA may from time to time revise the arrangements mentioned in paragraph (b) above but before making any material change to those arrangements shall consult the Keeper; and

(e)SEPA—

(i)shall secure that the Keeper has, at all reasonable hours, unrestricted access to the records preserved by it;

(ii)may afford members of the public, free of charge or on payment of reasonable charges, facilities for inspecting and for obtaining copies or extracts from those records.

(2)Nothing in subsection (1)(e)(ii) above permits infringement of copyright or contravention of conditions subject to which records are in SEPA’s keeping.

(3)Insofar as any provision of any enactment, being a provision which relates to records of a specific kind, is (but for this subsection) inconsistent with subsection (1) above, that subsection is subject to the provision in question.