Environmental Information Regulations could be more powerful than FOI

Environmental Information Regulations could be more powerful than FOI

Is the British government hiding something? The UK Freedom of Information Act arrived in a blaze of publicity but the lesser known Environmental Information Regulations which came into force on the same day attracted very little publicity at all. The Regulations were set up to implement a European Union Directive and could potentially be more powerful than the freedom of information laws. The Regulations could be used to uncover information about everything from chemical emissions and radiation to noise pollution and genetically modified organisms.

Environmental information laws slipped quietly into place (New Scientist, 8 January 2005 issue)