Public Authorities and Access to Environmental Information: The Legacy of Fish Legal

In February 2019, the First-tier Tribunal (General Regulatory Chamber, Information Rights) found that Poplar Housing and Regeneration Community Association Ltd (‘Poplar’) is not a public authority for the purposes of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR), substituting an August 2018 decision by the Information Commissioner. The appeal to the First-tier Tribunal concerned two issues. The primary issue was whether Poplar is a public authority within the meaning of the EIR. The secondary issue was whether the requested information was environmental information. This post will focus on the first issue, in order to examine the implications of the tests set out by the CJEU in Fish Legal for our understanding of ‘public authorities’ and ‘functions of public administration’ under the EIR.