http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2002/13/part/2/2005-01-01Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002An Act of the Scottish Parliament to make provision for the disclosure of information held by Scottish public authorities or by persons providing services for them; and for connected purposes.texttext/xmlenStatute Law Database2026-04-142005-01-01 Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002sch. 1 para. 61DRegulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2025sch. 3 para. 40(2)s. 103(3)Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002sch. 1 para. 105ZAVictims, Witnesses, and Justice Reform (Scotland) Act 2025sch. 2 para. 2s. 116(2) Part 2 251Information which the applicant can reasonably obtain other than by requesting it under section 1(1) is exempt information.2For the purposes of subsection (1), information—amay be reasonably obtainable even if payment is required for access to it;bis to be taken to be reasonably obtainable if—ithe Scottish public authority which holds it, or any other person, is obliged by or under any enactment to communicate it (otherwise than by making it available for inspection) to; oriithe Keeper of the Records of Scotland holds it and makes it available for inspection and (in so far as practicable) copying by,members of the public on request, whether free of charge or on payment.3For the purposes of subsection (1), information which does not fall within paragraph (b) of subsection (2) is not, merely because it is available on request from the Scottish public authority which holds it, reasonably obtainable unless it is made available in accordance with the authority’s publication scheme and any payment required is specified in, or determined in accordance with, the scheme.26Information is exempt information if its disclosure by a Scottish public authority (otherwise than under this Act)—ais prohibited by or under an enactment;bis incompatible with a Community obligation; orcwould constitute, or be punishable as, a contempt of court.271Information is exempt information if—ait is held with a view to its being published by—ia Scottish public authority; oriiany other person,at a date not later than twelve weeks after that on which the request for the information is made;bwhen that request is made the information is already being held with that view; andcit is reasonable in all the circumstances that the information be withheld from disclosure until such date as is mentioned in paragraph (a).2Information obtained in the course of, or derived from, a programme of research is exempt information if—athe programme is continuing with a view to a report of the research (whether or not including a statement of that information) being published by—ia Scottish public authority; oriiany other person; andbdisclosure of the information before the date of publication would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially—ithe programme;iithe interests of any individual participating in the programme;iiithe interests of the authority which holds the information; orivthe interests of the authority mentioned in sub-paragraph (i) of paragraph (a) (if it is a different authority from that which holds the information).281Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially relations between any administration in the United Kingdom and any other such administration.2In subsection (1), “administration in the United Kingdom” means—athe Government of the United Kingdom;bthe Scottish Administration;cthe Executive Committee of the Northern Ireland Assembly; ordthe National Assembly for Wales.291Information held by the Scottish Administration is exempt information if it relates to—athe formulation or development of government policy;bMinisterial communications;cthe provision of advice by any of the Law Officers or any request for the provision of such advice; ordthe operation of any Ministerial private office.2Once a decision as to policy has been taken, any statistical information used to provide an informed background to the taking of the decision is not to be regarded, for the purposes of—aparagraph (a) of subsection (1), as relating to the formulation or development of the policy in question; orbparagraph (b) of that subsection, as relating to Ministerial communications.3In determining any question under section 2(1)(b) as respects information which is exempt information by virtue of subsection (1)(a), the Scottish Administration must have regard to the public interest in the disclosure of factual information which has been used, or is intended to be used, to provide an informed background to the taking of a decision.4In this section—“government policy” means—the policy of the Scottish Administration; andin relation to information created before 1st July 1999, the policy of the Government of the United Kingdom;“the Law Officers” means the Lord Advocate, the Solicitor General for Scotland, the Advocate General for Scotland, the Attorney General, the Solicitor General and the Attorney General for Northern Ireland;“Ministerial communications” means any communications between Ministers and includes, in particular, communications relating to proceedings of the Scottish Cabinet (or of any committee of that Cabinet); and“Ministerial private office” means any part of the Scottish Administration which provides personal administrative support to a Minister.5In the definitions of “Ministerial communications” and “Ministerial private office” in subsection (4), “Minister” means a member of the Scottish Executive or a junior Scottish Minister.30Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act—awould, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the maintenance of the convention of the collective responsibility of the Scottish Ministers;bwould, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially—ithe free and frank provision of advice; oriithe free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation; orcwould otherwise prejudice substantially, or be likely to prejudice substantially, the effective conduct of public affairs.311Information is exempt information if exemption from section 1(1) is required for the purpose of safeguarding national security.2A certificate signed by a member of the Scottish Executive certifying that such exemption is, or at any time was, required for the purpose of safeguarding national security is conclusive of that fact.3Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (2), a certificate under that subsection may identify the information to which it applies by means of a general description and may be expressed to have prospective effect.4Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially—athe defence of the British Islands or of any colony; orbthe capability, effectiveness or security of any relevant forces.5In subsection (4)—ain paragraph (a), “British Islands” and “colony” are to be construed in accordance with Schedule1 to the Interpretation Act 1978 (c.30); andbin paragraph (b), “relevant forces” means—ithe armed forces of the Crown; andiiany forces co-operating with those forces,or any part of the armed forces of the Crown or of any such co-operating forces.321Information is exempt information if—aits disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially—irelations between the United Kingdom and any other State;iirelations between the United Kingdom and any international organisation or international court;iiithe interests of the United Kingdom abroad; orivthe promotion or protection by the United Kingdom of its interests abroad; orbit is confidential information obtained from—ia State other than the United Kingdom; oriian international organisation or international court.2For the purposes of subsection (1), information obtained from a State, organisation or court is confidential at any time while—athe terms on which that information was obtained require it to be held in confidence; orbthe circumstances in which it was obtained make it reasonable for the State, organisation or court to expect that it will be so held.3In subsection (1)—“international court” means an international court which—is not an international organisation; andis established—by a resolution of an international organisation of which the United Kingdom is a member; orby an international agreement to which the United Kingdom is a party;“international organisation” means—an international organisation whose members include any two or more States; oran organ of such an international organisation;“State” includes—the government of any State; andany organ of such a government,and references to a State other than the United Kingdom include references to any territory outwith the United Kingdom.331Information is exempt information if—ait constitutes a trade secret; orbits disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the commercial interests of any person (including, without prejudice to that generality, a Scottish public authority).2Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially—athe economic interests of the whole or part of the United Kingdom; orbthe financial interests of an administration in the United Kingdom.3In subsection (2), “administration in the United Kingdom” has the same meaning as in section 28(2).341Information is exempt information if it has at any time been held by a Scottish public authority for the purposes of—aan investigation which the authority has a duty to conduct to ascertain whether a person—ishould be prosecuted for an offence; oriiprosecuted for an offence is guilty of it;ban investigation, conducted by the authority, which in the circumstances may lead to a decision by the authority to make a report to the procurator fiscal to enable it to be determined whether criminal proceedings should be instituted; orccriminal proceedings instituted in consequence of a report made by the authority to the procurator fiscal.2Information is exempt information if—aheld by a Scottish public authority for the purposes of an inquiry instituted under the Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths Inquiry (Scotland) Act 1976 (c.14) but not for the time being concluded; orbheld at any time by a Scottish public authority for the purposes of any other investigation being carried out—iby virtue of a duty to ascertain; oriifor the purpose of making a report to the procurator fiscal as respects,the cause of death of a person.3Information held by a Scottish public authority is exempt information if—ait was obtained or recorded by the authority for the purposes of investigations (other than such investigations as are mentioned in subsection (1)) which are, by virtue either of Her Majesty’s prerogative or of powers conferred by or under any enactment, conducted by the authority for any purpose specified in section 35(2); andbit relates to the obtaining of information from confidential sources.4Information is exempt information if obtained or recorded by a Scottish public authority for the purposes of civil proceedings, brought by or on behalf of the authority, which arise out of such investigations as are mentioned in subsection (1) or (3).351Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially—athe prevention or detection of crime;bthe apprehension or prosecution of offenders;cthe administration of justice;dthe assessment or collection of any tax or duty (or of any imposition of a similar nature);ethe operation of the immigration controls;fthe maintenance of security and good order in prisons or in other institutions where persons are lawfully detained;gthe exercise by any public authority (within the meaning of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (c.36)) or Scottish public authority of its functions for any of the purposes mentioned in subsection (2);hany civil proceedings—ibrought; andiiarising out of an investigation conducted, for any such purpose,by or on behalf of any such authority, by virtue either of Her Majesty’s prerogative or of powers conferred by or under any enactment.2The purposes are—ato ascertain whether a person has failed to comply with the law;bto ascertain whether a person is responsible for conduct which is improper;cto ascertain whether circumstances which would justify regulatory action in pursuance of any enactment exist or may arise;dto ascertain a person’s fitness or competence in relation to—ithe management of bodies corporate; oriiany profession or other activity which the person is, or seeks to become, authorised to carry on;eto ascertain the cause of an accident;fto protect a charity against misconduct or mismanagement (whether by trustees or other persons) in its administration;gto protect the property of a charity from loss or mismanagement;hto recover the property of a charity;ito secure the health, safety and welfare of persons at work; andjto protect persons, other than persons at work, against risk to health or safety where that risk arises out of, or in connection with, the actions of persons at work.361Information in respect of which a claim to confidentiality of communications could be maintained in legal proceedings is exempt information.2Information is exempt information if—ait was obtained by a Scottish public authority from another person (including another such authority); andbits disclosure by the authority so obtaining it to the public (otherwise than under this Act) would constitute a breach of confidence actionable by that person or any other person.371Information is exempt information if it is contained in—aa document—ilodged with, or otherwise placed in the custody of, a court for the purposes of proceedings in a cause or matter;iiserved on, or by, a Scottish public authority for the purposes of such proceedings; oriiicreated by a court or a member of its administrative staff for the purposes of, or in the course of, such proceedings; orba document—ilodged with, or otherwise placed in the custody of, a person conducting an inquiry or arbitration, for the purposes of that inquiry or arbitration; oriicreated by such a person for such purposes,and a Scottish public authority holds the information solely because it is contained in such a document.2In this section—“court” includes a tribunal or body exercising the judicial power of the State; and“inquiry” means an inquiry or hearing held under a provision contained in, or made under, an enactment.3This section does not apply to information held by a Scottish public authority for the purposes of an inquiry instituted under the Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths Inquiry (Scotland) Act 1976 (c.14).381Information is exempt information if it constitutes—apersonal data of which the applicant is the data subject;bpersonal data and either the condition mentioned in subsection (2) (the “first condition”) or that mentioned in subsection (3) (the “second condition”) is satisfied;cpersonal census information; orda deceased person’s health record.2The first condition is—ain a case where the information falls within any of paragraphs (a) to (d) of the definition of “data” in section 1(1) of the Data Protection Act 1998 (c.29), that the disclosure of the information to a member of the public otherwise than under this Act would contravene—iany of the data protection principles; oriisection 10 of that Act (right to prevent processing likely to cause damage or distress); andbin any other case, that such disclosure would contravene any of the data protection principles if the exemptions in section 33A(1) of that Act (which relate to manual data held) were disregarded.3The second condition is that, by virtue of any provision of Part IV of that Act, the information is exempt from section 7(1)(c) of that Act (data subject’s right of access to personal data).4In determining for the purposes of this section whether anything done before 24th October 2007 would contravene any of the data protection principles, the exemptions in Part III of Schedule 8 to that Act are to be disregarded.5In this section—“the data protection principles” means the principles set out in Part I of Schedule 1 to that Act, as read subject to Part II of that Schedule and to section 27(1) of that Act;“data subject” and “personal data” have the meanings respectively assigned to those terms by section 1(1) of that Act;“health record” has the meaning assigned to that term by section 1(1) of the Access to Health Records Act 1990 (c.23); and“personal census information” means any census information—as defined in section 8(7) of the Census Act 1920 (c.41); oracquired or derived by virtue of sections 1 to 9 of the Census (Great Britain) Act 1910 (c.27),which relates to an identifiable person or household.6In section 8(7) of the Census Act 1920 (penalties), in the definition of “personal census information”, at the end there is added “ but does not include information which, by virtue of section 58(2)(b) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (asp 13) (falling away of exemptions with time), is not exempt information within the meaning of that Act ”.391Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to, endanger the physical or mental health or the safety of an individual.2Information is exempt information if a Scottish public authority—ais obliged by regulations under section 62 to make it available to the public in accordance with the regulations; orbwould be so obliged but for any exemption contained in the regulations.3Subsection (2)(a) is without prejudice to the generality of section 25(1).40Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the exercise of a Scottish public authority’s functions in relation to—athe audit of the accounts of other Scottish public authorities; orbthe examination of the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which such authorities use their resources in discharging their functions.41Information is exempt information if it relates to—acommunications with Her Majesty, with other members of the Royal Family or with the Royal Household; orbthe exercise by Her Majesty of Her prerogative of honour.S. 26 excluded (1.12.2007) by Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (c. 18), ss. 40(3), 74; S.I. 2007/3388, art. 2(f)S. 37(1)(b) excluded (7.6.2005) by Inquiries Act 2005 (c. 12), ss. 18(4), 51 (with ss. 44, 50); S.I. 2005/1432, art. 2S. 39(2)(3) applied (1.1.2005) by The Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (S.S.I. 2004/520), reg. 20 (with reg. 3)