ABSTRACT
Access to information and secrecy issues have been extremely important in relation to the development of environmental law. The first attempts to open up information to the public were made in the Control of Pollution Act 1974 and the Water Act 1973, which provided for public registers of consents. However, these were not enacted until 1985. It was the EC that again led the way on this issue, with Directive 90/313 on Access to Environmental Information. This led to the Environmental Information Regulations 1992/3240.84
The justifications for the policy of withholding information have centred around the ideas of the protection of trade secrets. In the past, it was argued that the public was incompetent at interpreting data, but this is less valid nowadays, with many of the pressure groups providing guidance and expertise. The other arguments are that the information will be abused and will lead to vexatious litigation.
