Foreign &
 
Commonwealth
 
Office
 
7 January 2009  
Ministerial Support Unit 
 
King Charles Street 
 
 SW1A 2AH 
Mika Minio-Paluello 
PLATFORM 
 
 
 
 
By e-mail: [FOI #5157 email] 
 
 
Dear Mr Minio-Paluello, 
 
 
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REQUEST: FOI 1010-08 
 
 
Thank you for your e-mailed Freedom of Information request of 22 December 2008, 
in which you asked for a list of meetings held between FCO Ministers or civil servants 
and Royal Dutch Shell employees during 2007 and 2008, including a list of those in 
attendance during these meetings and a list of files, memos or correspondence 
relating to these meetings. 
 
Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act makes provisions for public authorities 
to refuse requests for information where the cost of dealing with them would exceed 
the appropriate limit.  The limit has been specified in the Freedom of Information 
and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.  For central 
government the appropriate limit is set at £600.  This represents the estimated cost 
of one or more persons spending 3 ½ days working days in determining whether the 
Department holds the information, and locating, retrieving and extracting it.  Your 
request as presently formulated is widely-framed and I estimate that it will take more 
than 3 ½ working days to locate, retrieve and extract this information.  In these 
circumstances we are not obliged under the Act to comply with your request.  You 
may therefore wish to refine your request to narrow its scope to bring it within the 
appropriate limit.  It would be useful, for instance, if you were to request details of 
meetings just with Ministers, or particular geographical regions or countries, or 
specify which Royal Dutch Shell employees. 
 
If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request and 
wish to make a complaint or request an internal review, you should write to the FOI - 
Information Rights Team.  Please note any request for an internal review must be 
submitted within 40 working days from the date our response was issued. 
 
 
 

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If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you may apply directly 
to the Information Commissioner for a decision.  The Information Commissioner can 
be contacted at: 
 
The Information Commissioner’s Office 
Wycliffe House 
Water Lane, Wilmslow 
Cheshire, SK9 5AF 
 
 
Yours sincerely 
 
Open Government Liaison Officer 
Ministerial Support Unit 
 
 
 
Data Protection Act 1998 
 
The FCO processes personal data as notified to the Information Commissioner 
(www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk) for the purpose of working for the UK's 
interests in a safe, just and prosperous world.  Such personal data may be shared 
with other UK Government Departments and public authorities. 
 
 

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