Construction of Regulations2.

(1)

These Regulations apply to any information which—

(a)

relates to the environment;

(b)

is held by a relevant person in an accessible form and otherwise than for the purposes of any judicial or legislative functions; and

(c)

is not (apart from these Regulations) either—

(i)

information which is required, in accordance with any statutory provision, to be provided on request to every person who makes a request; or

(ii)

information contained in records which are required, in accordance with any statutory provision, to be made available for inspection by every person who wishes to inspect them.

(2)

For the purposes of these Regulations information relates to the environment if, and only if, it relates to any of the following, that is to say—

(a)

the state of any water or air, the state of any flora or fauna, the state of any soil or the state of any natural site or other land;

(b)

any activities or measures (including activities giving rise to noise or any other nuisance) which adversely affect anything mentioned in sub-paragraph (a) above or are likely adversely to affect anything so mentioned;

(c)

any activities or administrative or other measures (including any environmental management programmes) which are designed to protect anything so men-tioned.

(3)

For the purposes of these Regulations the following are relevant persons, that is to say—

(a)

all such Ministers of the Crown, Government departments, local authorities and other persons carrying out functions of public administration at a national, regional or local level as, for the purposes of or in connection with their functions, have responsibilities in relation to the environment; and

(b)

any body with public responsibilities for the environment which does not fall within sub-paragraph (a) above but is under the control of a person falling within that sub-paragraph.

(4)

In these Regulations “information” includes anything contained in any records; “records” includes registers, reports and returns, as well as computer records and other records kept otherwise than in a document; and “statutory provision” means any provision made by or under any enactment.