Never mind FOI here's the EIRs

Energy, transport and utility companies will face unprecedented demands to disclose information about their activities when new environmental regulations come into force on January 1.

Whereas the Freedom of Information legislation does not allow the public to request information from the private sector the new Environmental Information Regulations (EIRs) will compel many companies that provide public services relating to the environment to supply information. But the final draft of the regulations was only approved in the last few weeks and many companies remain confused about the full scope of the EIRs.

The regulations do not specifically list the groups that are covered and Phil Michaels, head of legal affairs at Friends of the Earth, expects a large number of legal challenges to be launched against companies that refuse to acknowledge they are bound by the regulations.

Disclosure demands set to grow (Financial Times, 29 December 2004)
"Dirty" firms fight right to know (Independent on Sunday, 26 December 2004)

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