18 December 2008

Western Balkans Group

Room WH1.204

King Charles Street

London

SW1A 2AH

Tel: 020 7008 1839

Fax: 020 7008 1800

E-mail: [email address]

Dr Jonathan Levy

By e-mail: [FOI #4627 email]

Dear Dr Levy,

FOI REQUEST - REF 0982/08

I am writing regarding your request for information which was received by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) on 10 December 2008. In that request, you asked for information on the Croatian political organization known as “Croatian Liberation Movement” also known as “Hrvatski oslobodilacki pokret (HOP)” which was founded in 1956 in Buenos Aires, Argentina and operated worldwide.

Your request for information is very broad and would necessitate searching 30 years worth of files dealing with the Balkans and Argentina. In addition you mention the movement operated worldwide which would widen the search even further. We estimate that the cost of complying with your request would exceed the appropriate limit of £600. The appropriate limit has been specified in the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 and for central Government it is set at £600. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 3½ working days in determining whether the Department holds the information, and locating, retrieving and extracting the relevant information. Under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act the department is not obliged to comply with you request and we will not be processing it further.

The FCO holds files for 30 years. For material earlier than 1978 you should visit the National Archives. Their website is very comprehensive and will give you access to their online catalogue. The website address is www.nationalarchives.co.uk.

If you were to make a new request for a more narrow category of information it may be that we could comply with that request within the appropriate limit, although I cannot guarantee that this would be the case. For example if your request was to specify particular years of interest or the organizations operations in specific countries. Any reformulated request the Department receives from you will be treated as a fresh Freedom of Information request.

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision, you should write to me within 40 working days. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

If you are not content with the outcome of the review, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally the Information Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the FCO. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Yours Sincerely

L Stephens

Lianne Stephens

Western Balkans Group

2

Foreign &

Commonwealth

Office