13 July 2009

Mr P. John

By e-mail: [FOI #13282 email]

Dear Mr John

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE: 0464-09

Thank you for your request for information, which we received on 18 June.

The FOI Act obliges us to respond to requests promptly and in any case no later than 20 working days after receiving your request. However, when a qualified exemption is engaged and the public interest test is being considered, the Act allows the time for response to be longer than 20 working days, and a full response must be provided within such time as is reasonable in all circumstances of the case. We do, of course, aim to make all decisions within 20 working days, including in cases where we need to consider where the public interest lies in respect of a request.  In this case, however, we have not yet reached a decision on where the balance of the public interest test lies. 

The specific exemptions in relation to your request are: Section 27 - International Relations and Section 35 Formulation of Government Policy.

In your case we estimate that it will take an additional 20 working days to take a decision on where the balance of the public interest lies. Therefore, we plan to let you have a response by 7 August. It if appears that it will take longer than this to reach a conclusion, we will keep you informed. 

Yours sincerely,

Michael Wedding

Europe Directorate

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