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Water companies given permission to withhold environmental data Water companies have been released from the burden of sharing certain environmental data after the Information Commissioner ruled that they do not fall under the Environmental Information Regulations. The regulations require public authorities to respond to requests for environmental data. Public authorities are defined as any body that carries out an administrative function with public responsibilities and that is under the control of a regulator. Since the regulations were published five years ago, it has been unclear whether water companies fall under their jurisdiction, with most opting to "play it safe", according to James Mullock, head of information law at Osborne Clark. The Information Commissioner's decision is a result of legal action by Osborne Clark on behalf of 16 water companies in response to a request for commercial reasons for mapping information and other valuable data held by English and Welsh water companies. "The companies were concerned about it because of the national security implications of releasing large-scale mapping data and were also concerned about their own intellectual property rights and commercial information being made publicly available in that uncontrolled way," Mullock said. "Utilities are sitting on a lot of very valuable data." Mullock said the commissioner had accepted that the sector fell outside the regulations after Osborne Clark argued that "it has crossed the line from being state-owned, publicly run infrastructure to being a private sector". Companies will still be required to report environmental data required under other laws specifically relating to the water sector. Mullock said: "[This decision] allows them to focus on things like the Water Industry Act and look specifically at information that's required under that, rather than be subject to a much broader information law request obligation - it's expensive, as well as opening them up to having to disclose commercially sensitive information." Source: Utility Week © Faversham House Group Ltd 2010. News articles may be copied or forwarded
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