FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1992 - SECT 31
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1992 - SECT 31
31 . Certain exempt matter (Sch. 1 cl. 1, 2 or 5), giving information about existence etc. of
(1) Nothing in this
Act requires the agency to give information as to the existence or
non-existence of a document containing matter that would be exempt matter
under clause 1, 2 or 5 of Schedule 1.
(2) If the access
application relates to a document that includes, or would if it existed
include, exempt matter of a kind referred to in subsection (1), the agency may
give written notice to the applicant that the agency neither confirms nor
denies the existence, as a document of the agency, of such a document but
that, assuming the existence of such a document, it would be an exempt
document and, where such a notice is given —
(a)
section 30 applies as if the decision to give such a notice were a decision
referred to in that section; and
(b) for
the purposes of this Act, the decision is to be regarded as a refusal of
access to the document because the document would, if it existed, be an exempt
document.