Charging policy

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 lay down the charges for requests for information.  At CCW, our policy is to charge the lower of these to cover the work involved.

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 AND ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION REGULATIONS 2004

As an environmental body, the majority of enquiries/requests for information that CCW receives are covered under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 [EIR], and are exempt from the Freedom of Information Act [FOIA] under Section 39 of that Act.

The EIR permit CCW to make a charge to recover full costs for all environmental information provided, regardless of the size of the enquiry, whereas the FOIA requires us to provide free responses to enquiries which takes less than 2½ days staff time.  However, for consistency and transparency, CCW has decided to make most EIR-related information under that 2.5 day limit available free of charge*, and where charges have to be made, to base those charges on the FOIA charges.

Enquiries under both sets of legislation will be charged as follows:

Staff Time

Enquiries which can be dealt with in:

under 2.5 days [£450 staff cost] - No charge*

Enquiries which take over 2.5 days - £25 per hour (the fees set by parliament for FOI Enquiries) for the whole enquiry (including the first 2.5 days).

Enquiries which take over 10 days - we will not normally provide information on this scale.

* Where an EIR enquiry is part of a series of enquiries on a single or closely related subject, either from the same enquirer, or related group of enquirers, which under FOI rules could be aggregated, we will charge for the whole enquiry in accordance with Regulation 8(1) of the EIR 2004.

Other Costs

We are permitted to charge for other incurred expenses regardless of the size of the enquiry - photocopying (10p a sheet), CDs (for electronic data), postage and packaging etc.  We will not normally charge where that amounts to less than £25.

DATA PROTECTION ACT (DPA) CHARGES

Requests for structured personal information held about the requester (data subject requests under the DPA) are covered by the standard fee of £10.

This includes searches for unstructured personal data [where you have given a clear description of that data] up to a limit of 2.5 days. Above that limit the request for unstructured data may be refused.

Definition

Structured data is that which is organised in such a way that information is easily findable. (Relevant subject files in a paper filing system, or and electronic records).  Unstructured data is everything else (eg. references to an individual in minutes of meetings etc).

NOT ALL INFORMATION IS FREE UNDER THE ABOVE ACTS

Please note that none of the above legislation requires CCW to provide information or services for which we have a remit and policy to charge.  Broad categories for which we charge are specified within our Publication Scheme (see 'further resources' section below).

Thus, for example, CCW’s policy has always been to charge for the provision of commissioned scientific research reports, maps & aerial photographs, SSSI citations, publications. These will continue to be charged at our normal rates.

A full list of the types of information or service we charge for, and the current charges, is detailed below.

RESTRICTIONS ON USE OF INFORMATION PROVIDED UNDER FOIA AND EIR.

Use of Information

Information provided under the FOIA and EIR is provided solely for the purpose of personal private use, study or research. It may not be used for financial profit or gain, either direct or indirect, or other commercial purposes.

Copyright

Information provided under the FOIA and EIR is subject to normal copyright restrictions. You may not make further copies of documents provided without the express permission of the copyright holders.

Intellectual Property Rights

The Crown and CCW own all the Intellectual Property Rights to the information supplied, [except where otherwise stated], including data in datasets. 

If you wish to use the information for commercial purposes, or as part of your published research, you should consult CCW Access to Information Officer at ATI@ccw.gov.uk and apply for a licence.

FEES & CHARGES FOR OTHER INFORMATION 

Technical/Scientific Reports           

Most reports can be downloaded free from our website

Hardcopy reports will be charged at £25 per report

Publications

Full details of our publications list can be found on our website

These can be ordered online and are provided free of charge. (Some can be downloaded directly from the website)

Maps

All Maps supplied electronically will be provided free of charge.

Hardcopy maps will be charged at the following rates:

* Charges will only be levied where 5 or more maps are requested i.e. minimum charge of £25

Citations (for SSSI, SAC, SPA & Ramsar)

Citations provided electronically will be provided free of charge.

Hardcopy citations will be charged at the following rates:

* Charges will only be levied where 5 or more are requested i.e. minimum charge of £25