Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty - Information provided to the UK under the Protocol on Notification and Exchange of Information

Roedd y cais yn llwyddiannus.

Dear Foreign and Commonwealth Office,

I am attempting to locate information provided to the UK by the other State Parties under the Protocol on Notification and Exchange of Information of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe. Specifically the information required to be provided under the Protocol as at the date of the Treaty, 19 November 1990 (as referenced by Section VII of the Protocol).

I've not been able to locate this information in the National Archives and assume that it therefore continues to be held by the FCO.

I am therefore requesting under the Freedom of Information Act copies of the formal notifications provided to the UK deemed valid at the signature date of the Treaty, 19 November 1990.

Please don't hesitate to contact me should you require additional information about my request. If the information has been transferred to the National Archives, I should be grateful if you could provide me with sufficient information to locate it.

Yours faithfully,

R Williams

FOI-DPA PMCS (Sensitive),

Dear R Williams,

Thank you for your email to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) requesting information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

I have checked with our Historical Archives Team and our understanding is that the Ministry of Defence were the lead department for this Treaty. Therefore your requested files will be held by them and it is unlikely that FCO would hold this information. We would recommend submitting your FOI request to the MOD. The email address for the MOD FOI team is: [email address]

If you still wish to submit your FOI request to the FCO please confirm by return of email.

Yours sincerely

Central FOI Unit
Foreign and Commonwealth Office

dangos adrannau a ddyfynnir

Dear Central FOI Unit,

Thank you for the prompt response.

I'll give the MOD a try with the same request. The main text of the Treaty is held by Kew as an FCO document so I may return to you if the MOD says they don't hold the information.

Yours sincerely,

R Williams

Dear FOI-DPA PMCS (Sensitive),

Thank you for your previous assistance with this request.

The MoD has indicated that they do not hold the information requested. Given the information you've previously provided and that the MoD has previously published aggregate information provided to the UK under the Treaty (https://www.gov.uk/government/collection...) I've asked for an Internal Review of my request by the MoD.

Given however that the notifications would have been provided to the UK as formal diplomatic communications (under Article XVII of the Treaty) I should be grateful if could complete a further search of FCO records and archives.

Yours sincerely,

R Williams

FOI-DPA PMCS (Sensitive),

Dear R Williams,
 
Thank you for your email and apologies for the delay in getting back to
you. We are happy to look further into your enquiry. I have discussed your
request again with our Historical archives and referred to our FCO Treaty
section. We can confirm that FCO are not the depositary for this treaty
and the only records we hold within our Treaty section are copies of the
published versions which are already within the public domain. Our
understanding is still that the MOD are the lead department.
 
[1]http://foto.archivalware.co.uk/data/Libr...
 
[2]http://foto.archivalware.co.uk/data/Libr...
 
[3]http://foto.archivalware.co.uk/data/Libr...
 
However, it would be possible for us to search our archives to review if
we hold any documents relating to where the treaty was officially
transferred to. We would require you to provide a timeframe for the search
and we would be happy to proceed with the request.
 
Please let us know how you would like to proceed.
 
 
 
Yours sincerely
 
Central FOI Unit
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
 
 
 
_____________________________________________
From: R Williams <[4][FOI #536951 email]>
Sent: 01 February 2019 22:16
To: FOI-DPA PMCS (Sensitive) <[5][FCO request email]>
Subject: RE: Freedom of Information request - Conventional Forces in
Europe Treaty - Information provided to the UK under the Protocol on
Notification and Exchange of Information
 
Dear FOI-DPA PMCS (Sensitive),
 
Thank you for your previous assistance with this request.
 
The MoD has indicated that they do not hold the information requested.
Given the information you've previously provided and that the MoD has
previously published aggregate information provided to the UK under the
Treaty
([6]https://www.gov.uk/government/collection...)
I've asked for an Internal Review of my request by the MoD.
 
Given however that the notifications would have been provided to the UK as
formal diplomatic communications (under Article XVII of the Treaty) I
should be grateful if could complete a further search of FCO records and
archives.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
R Williams
 

dangos adrannau a ddyfynnir

Dear FOI-DPA PMCS (Sensitive),

Thanks once again for your very helpful assistance with my query.

The offer to make a further search of your archives is much appreciated. There is no urgency in my request so I am happy to be guided by you as to a reasonable timescale given other demands on your team's time - perhaps three months?

If the MoD is able to provide the information before then I will let you know, although you can track the query here: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...

Yours sincerely,

R Williams

FOI-DPA PMCS (Sensitive),

Dear R Williams,

Thank you for your reply. We would recommend a time period of 3 months for our search purposes (e.g Nov 1990 - end of Jan 1991). Please confirm if you are happy for us to proceed with these dates. Once we formally acknowledge your request we will aim to provide you with a reply within 20 working days. Apologies if this was not clear in my previous email.

Yours sincerely

Central FOI Unit
Foreign and Commonwealth Office

dangos adrannau a ddyfynnir

Dear FOI-DPA PMCS (Sensitive),

Thank you for your reply.

Apologies for misunderstanding your previous email.

The Treaty gave the State Parties 90 days from the signing of the Treaty to provide the required information. Given the signing date of 19 November 1990, a search period to perhaps as late as the end of March 1991 might be appropriate.

Thank you again for your assistance,

Yours sincerely,

R Williams

FOI-DPA PMCS (Sensitive),

Dear R Williams,

Thank you for your reply. Your FOI request has been accepted under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. It has been assigned a unique reference number (above) and has been passed to the relevant section within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to deal with. They will be in touch with you should your request need clarification.

We received your request on 12 February 2019 and will aim to respond within 20 working days, following date of receipt.

Yours sincerely

Central FoI Unit
Foreign and Commonwealth Office

dangos adrannau a ddyfynnir

Historical FOI (Sensitive),

8 Atodiad

Dear R Williams,

 

Please find attached our reply to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
request reference 0164-19.

 

Kind Regards,

 

 

Historical FOI Team,

Knowledge Management Department,

Hanslope Park, Hanslope

Milton Keynes

 

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References

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Dear Historical FOI (Sensitive),

Thank you for the information that you've been able to provide and your assistance through out this process. I am very grateful for your diligence and efforts in handling this request.

Yours sincerely,

R Williams