Tweet
http://ukhumanrightsblog.com/2011/11...ts/#more-11355
The “risk” exemption
The Tribunal did not agree that the Section 38 exception was engaged at the time the request for information was made to the University. An ordinary reading of the Section requires that disclosure should create a significant and weighty risk of endangering an individual’s physical or mental health. Considering the statutory purpose of freedom of information, balanced by exemptions, the Tribunal was not persuaded that it should read the word “endanger” in a sense which would engage the exception merely because of a risk.
The “risk” exemption
The Tribunal did not agree that the Section 38 exception was engaged at the time the request for information was made to the University. An ordinary reading of the Section requires that disclosure should create a significant and weighty risk of endangering an individual’s physical or mental health. Considering the statutory purpose of freedom of information, balanced by exemptions, the Tribunal was not persuaded that it should read the word “endanger” in a sense which would engage the exception merely because of a risk.
"A risk is not the same as a specific danger. Every time a motorist drives on the road there is a risk that an accident may occur, but driving is only dangerous when a particularly risky situation arises. So, for example, there is always a risk that a researcher might become a target for persons opposing animal research by unlawful and violent means, but the researcher’s physical health would not be endangered unless a specific attack were made."
The Tribunal emphasised the importance of establishing a causal link between disclosure of the particular information and the envisaged danger. Whilst it understood that there may have been fears about the safety of researchers given the past history of extremism and the sensitivity of experiments involving non-human primates, the Tribunal took a pragmatic approach and rested its conclusion on the evidence, which disclosed very little likelihood of anyone being endangered.
