Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) v The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), Appeal No. AT/NEPA/2010/1 (9 August 2010)

The Jamaica Environmental Trust (JET) filed a petition with the Access to Information Appeal Tribunal to challenge a denial of information under Jamaica’s Access to Information Act that went into effect in 2004. The Act grants all members of the public the right to obtain access to official documents held by public authorities unless the information is exempt from disclosure under limited categories provided by the Act. JET had requested veterinary reports from the Dolphin Cove facilities in Ocho Rios and Montego Bay from the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA). 

The Decision of the Access to Information Appeal Tribunal explains that NEPA wrote to  Dolphin Cove alerting it that the requested information was not exempt from disclosure, providing Dolphin Cove an opportunity to object. Dolphin Cove responded:

the only reason that any member of the public would have an interest in the private  operational information (particularly information pertaining to the animals’ welfare)  . . . is for the purpose[] of the environmental activism movement against dolphins in captivity.  . . . [W]here this information has been given to the activists, it has been used to the detriment of the business interests of this company.

We advise further, that should this document be in fact released to the public, it is our intention ot pursue this matter ot the fullest extent of the law in order to safeguard our constitutional rights to operate . . . without regulatory agencies acting to facilitate third party interferences under the Access to Information Act.

 NEPA then informed JET it was denying the request for documents claiming that they “may be exempt” under the Access to Information Act, section 20(b) that states:

an official document is exempt for disclosure if it contains information concerning the commercial interest of any person or organizaton and the disclosure of that information would prejudice those interests.

Finding that the agency had backed away from its own position that the documents should be released, the tribunal ordered release of the documents. The tribunal declared:

A public authority should never abdicate its responsibility to make a decision which it is required to make under the law, with the expectation that the Tribunal will discharge that responsibility. Where a document is not exempt under the Act, the public authority is obligated to release the document.

A threat of a lawsuit should never prevent a public authority from fulfilling its mandate under the Act. . . .

[T]he Tribunal has concluded that the information sought is not exempt under the Act and should be made available to the Appellant.