FOI/19/01248 · FOI · partially withheld
EU nations Consul Generals correspondence on an independent Scotland's EU membership: FOI release
Information requested
Copies of all correspondence to the Scottish Government from Consuls General of EU nations since March 29 2019 on the subject of an independent Scotland's membership of the European Union.
Response
I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested in Annex B. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because exemptions under section s.38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information. The reasons why that exemption applies are explained in Annex A to this letter.
ANNEX A REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to a small amount of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, ie names and contact details of individuals, and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Detected exemption language
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because exemptions under section s.38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information. The reasons why that exemption applies are explained in Annex A to this letter. ANNEX A REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to a small amount of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, ie names and contact details of individuals, and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.