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What is Freedom of Information? These pages explain your rights under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. They also explain how the Act may affect your research into the archives. There are separate pages for records managers and archivists. The Freedom of Information Actwas passed in November 2000 and came fully into effect from 1 January 2005. FOI gives people a right of access to information held by public bodies. The range of public bodies covered by FOI is very wide, ranging from central government departments to individual schools and parish councils. A full list of the bodies affected - FOI authorities - can be found in Schedule 1 of the Act. A separate Act covers public authorities in Scotland - the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. The list includes The National Archives and the rights of access apply both to our own administrative records and to the archives (the records transferred to us from other government departments). FOI applies to information whatever its age, and whether it is at The National Archives or is still held by the originating government department. The 30 year standard closure period no longer determines access to records; instead, information is assumed to be ‘open’ right from the start unless one of the exemptions set out in the Act applies. Exemptions are grounds to withhold information. They are clearly defined in the Act, are limited in number and are usually used where some harm might result if the information were to be released. The Department for Constitutional Affairs has produced a guide to FOI exemptions There are separate Environmental Information Regulations giving similar rights of access to environmental information. Anyone, anywhere in the world, can send a written request for information (a letter, fax or email) to an FOI authority. The FOI authority must say whether it holds the information, and if it does, provide it. The rights of access are overridden only by the exemptions mentioned above. Those disappointed with the response to their enquiry can complain to the Information Commissioner , the independent regulator of the Act. There is a further right of appeal to an Information Tribunal. FOI has changed how records are made available to you, and how we respond to enquiries about the archives. The following leaflets tell you more about making an FOI request Making an FOI request for Information in the archives(33kb) Making an FOI request for information in our administrative records of our own operations(33kb) We make some information about our own operations available without your having to make a request to see it. We do this through our Publication Schemes. Make a Freedom of Information enquiry. Over 50,000 files were released to mark the full implementation of the Freedom of Information Act. View the list of selected files This page contains PDF files. See plug-ins and file formats for help in accessing these file types. Terms of use | Copyright | Privacy | Top of page The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 4DU. Tel: +44 (0) 20 8876 3444.