NATO ROE Doctrine MC 362/1

Dear Ministry of Defence,

Please provide

1. A dated list of editions of NATO ROE Doctrine MC 362/1 with numbers of pages for each edition.

2. A copy of the extant edition of NATO ROE Doctrine MC 362/1 .

Please note, I have conducted searches and cannot find this publication online.
If you can assist with directions to where I can find this information in the public domain this would save everyone a lot of time.

Yours faithfully,

Ceri Gibbons

Dear Ministry of Defence,

Please respond to this FOIA request

Yours faithfully,

Ceri Gibbons

Dear Ministry of Defence,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

1. I am writing to request an internal review of Ministry of Defence's handling of my FOI request 'NATO ROE Doctrine MC 362/1'.

2. In Annex A to its response to my request (Ref:FOI2023/06611), dated 27 June 23 the MOD provides the following "Annex A: FOI2023/06611 Releasable Information. (1). The Ministry of Defence does not hold NATO ROE Doctrine MC 362/1 (published 23 Jul 2003) as it was superseded 18 Sep 2019 by NATO ROE Doctrine MC 362/2 . ( 2) . The Ministry of Defence does hold NATO ROE Doctrine MC 362/2, published 18 Sep 2019, 55 pages including annexes, however, is being withheld under Section 27(1)(A) Freedom of Information Act 2000."

3. I challenge the application of Section 27(1)(A) to NATO ROE Doctrine MC 362/2.
Since making this request I have found a full unredacted copy of ROE Doctrine MC 362/1 (published 23 Jul 2003) in the public domain. This was deliberately made public by NATO in 2016 without any redactions or any apparent concern that prejudice to international relations would be likely to result from its disclosure.

4. I am not satisfied that disclosure of the 2019 version would be any more likely to prejudice international relations. On the contrary the disclosure would provide information that would inform the public debate on the parameters of use of force within and outside or armed conflicts by the NATO nations. This would follow MOD's partial disclosures of the 2019 edition of JSP 398 UK Rules of Engagement, and JSP 900 Targeting Policy to assist in clarifying and tracking changes to UK ROE and targeting policy.

5. In particular there is a vital public interest in the full disclosure of evidence of the apparent UK adoption of NATO ROE relating to '42' series of rules of offensive use of lethal force, that may be harmful to the established IHL principle of distinction in military targeting, especially when such adoption has apparently happened beyond the scrutiny of Parliament, or any democratic or transparent process of accountability to the public.

6. The full disclosure of NATO ROE Doctrine MC 362/2 is clearly in the public interest. As UK ROE appears to have increasingly merged with NATO ROE over the last two decades, it is of vital importance that the public are aware of the developments in NATO ROE in order to contribute to a democratic process of debate on the limits and parameters of this merger.

Yours faithfully,

Ceri Gibbons

Dear CIO-FOI-IR (MULTIUSER),

FOI2023/06611
Thanks for the Internal review response in this case.

I will await the new response regarding NATO ROE Doctrine MC 362/1

I have also made a fresh request today for NATO ROE Doctrine MC 362/2

Yours sincerely,

Ceri Gibbons

Dear SPO EASP-NATO (MULTIUSER),

FOI2023 06611

Please provide an update on this FOIA request.

Yours sincerely,

Ceri Gibbons

Dear Ministry of Defence,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Ministry of Defence's handling of my FOI request 'NATO ROE Doctrine MC 362/1'.

Section 27 does not apply.

A copy of MC 362/1 has already been released into the public domain by NATO itself.

There is no reason for NATO to direct MOD not to comply with this request in full.

Yours faithfully,

Ceri Gibbons

Dear Ministry of Defence,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Ministry of Defence's handling of my FOI request 'NATO ROE Doctrine MC 362/1'.

FOI2023 06611

Please provide acknowlegment of the IR request in this case.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/n...

Yours faithfully,

Ceri Gibbons