Charges & Copyright
Charges
The Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 permit the Council to charge a "reasonable amount", not exceeding the cost of production, for information provided under the Regulations, which includes information which may have been requested under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA).
The costs for an environmental request are calculated in line with the real costs to the authority, taking into consideration estimated costs of staff time to locate and retrieve the information, plus any costs associated with putting the information into a particular format, copying and postage costs.
The standard charge for photocopying is 10p per A4 sheet. Colour printing, structure plans, maps, etc, which require specialist printing or copying shall be charged at cost to the authority.
Waivers
Aberdeen City Council will follow its practice as regards Freedom of Information requests and provide the information free of charge where the estimated cost does not exceed £250. Where the estimated costs exceed £250, the full costs may be charged.
Aberdeen City Council may decide to waive the fee if satisfied that there is a genuine and widespread public interest in the publication of the information in question. Where this is the case, the information will be widely published, including by electronic means.
Where an environmental request has been processed as a mainstream FOISA request, the Authority may decide to charge in line with the Freedom of Information (Fees for Required Disclosure) (Scotland) Regulations 2004. This will not set a precedent for any future charge.
Payments
All fees for environmental information requests are to be paid in advance. Officers will issue a fees notice to the applicant and will not be obliged to provide the information until the fee has been paid. (This is consistent with the practice under the FOISA).
Copyright
The supply of documents under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 is the same as those under the Freedom of Information Act 2002. This means that any person or organisation who receives information does not have an automatic right to re-use the documents in a way that would infringe copyright, for example, by making multiple copies, publishing and issuing copies to the public.
Brief extracts of the material may be reproduced under the fair dealing provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (sections 29 and 30) for the purposes of research for non-commercial purposes, private study, criticism, review and news reporting.
Authorisation to re-use copyright material not owned by Aberdeen City Council should be sought from the copyright holders concerned. If in doubt, please contact the Aberdeen City Council Freedom of Information Enquiries Team: foienquiries@aberdeencity.gov.uk in the first instance on (44) 1224 523827/523602.
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