Smartsource v Information Commissioner and a Group of 19 additional parties. Country/Territory United Kingdom Type of court National - higher court Date Nov 23, 2010 Source UNEP, InforMEA Court name Upper Tribunal Seat of court London Judge Ryan. Reference number [2010] UKUT 415 (AAC) Language English Subject Water, Legal questions Keyword Access-to-information Abstract The case arose from a request by Smartsource, a specialist business providing information about water and wastewater billing, to 16 water companies for information about their asset management databases, their water and sewerage billing records and their water pressure registers. All 16 companies refused to disclose the information claiming they were not public authorities under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIRs). Having been referred to the Information Commissioner and then to the First-Tier Tribunal of the General Regulatory Chamber (Information Rights Division), the case was then transferred to the Upper Chamber (only the second case to be transferred in this way) because the First-Tier Chamber President considered it to involve "a question of law of special difficulty or an important point of principle or practice". The definition of "public authority" in the EIRs has always been broader than the corresponding term in the Freedom of Information Act 2000. As well as government departments and most of the other public authorities listed in Schedule 1 of FOIA, Regulation 2, paragraph 2 of the EIRs also covers:3 (c)any other body or person that carries out functions of public administration; or 4 (d) any other body or person that is under the control of [one of the aforementioned], and (i) has public responsibilities relating to the environment; (ii) exercises functions of a public nature relating to the environment; or (iii) provides public services relating to the environment. Prior to Smartsource the prevailing view was that water companies fell squarely within this definition. The Information Commissioner ruled in 2008, for example, that Sutton and East Surrey Water plc was a public authority, and Ofwat's website stated (up until this case) that "water companies are ... classed as public authorities for the purposes of [the] EIRs and are liable to answer requests made under [the] EIRs". There was even guidance on the Aarhus Convention (which the EIRs implement) using water companies as a specific example of private companies that might fall within the definition. The Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber) has upheld the decision of the Information Commissioner and found that privatised water and sewerage companies do not fall within the definition of public authorities for the purposes of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. Full text COU-156970.pdf