|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Document
|
|
PO-1986
|
|
|
|
|
|
File #
|
|
PA-010144-1 and PA-010146-1
|
|
|
|
|
|
Institution/HIC
|
|
Ministry of the Attorney General
|
|
|
|
|
|
Summary
|
|
BACKGROUND: The Ministry of the Attorney General (the Ministry) received a request under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act ) for information concerning unpaid fines imposed for convictions for offences under the Environmental Protection Act (the EPA ). The requester specifically sought: (i) the names of the individuals and businesses that owe the fines; (ii) the amount of the fines; (iii) the infractions; (iv) the dates and locations of the infractions; and (v) the court dates when the fines were imposed. The Ministry informed the requester that the responsive record consists of 98 pages with 2,400 conviction entries, of which 1,770 relate to individuals (individual affected parties) and 630 relate to businesses (business affected parties). The Ministry denied access to the individual affected party entries on the grounds that disclosure would constitute an unjustified invasion of these individuals' personal privacy under section 21 of the Act . Since the Ministry did not intend to disclose these entries, it did not notify the individual affected parties of the request. The Ministry made a preliminary decision to grant access to the business affected party entries, but before doing so gave notice to those affected parties. Three of these businesses consented to the release of their information and, accordingly, the Ministry disclosed those parts of the record to the requester. Several other businesses wrote to the Ministry opposing disclosure of their information. Because six of these businesses no longer had outstanding fines, the requester agreed not to seek information relating to them. This information is therefore not at issue and should not be disclosed. Ultimately, the Ministry decided to disclose information relating to most, but not all, of the business affected parties. NATURE OF THE APPEALS: One of the business affected parties (the primary affected party) appealed the Ministry's decision to disclose information concerning it, relying on the exemption in section 17 of the Act relating to commercial information, and this office opened Appeal PA-010144-1 (the first appeal). Later, the requester appealed the Ministry's decision to withhold some of the entries, and this office opened Appeal PA-010146-1 (the second appeal). During the mediation process, the Ministry explained to the requester that the record does not describe the nature of the environmental infraction, the date when it occurred, or the location. On this basis the requester agreed not to pursue these parts of the request. The requester also agreed not to seek access to those entries that show the environmental fine as paid, but amounts owing for other reasons. In the first appeal, I initially sent a Notice of Inquiry that set out the issues to the Ministry and the requester. In the Notice, I sought representations in respect of the section 17 exemption only on the issue of whether the information at issue was "supplied" to the Ministry by an affected party. I sent the same Notice of Inquiry to the Ministry and 129 business affected parties in the second appeal, but did not send a Notice to those affected parties to which earlier notices by the Ministry were returned as undeliverable. To ensure that reasonable efforts were made to give notice to these business affected parties, this office placed an advertisement in the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail notifying these parties of the appeal. The Ministry and 13 business affected parties provided representations. I then sent the Ministry's complete representations to the primary affected party in the first appeal, and to the requester in the second appeal. I received representations from both. The Ministry later provided a revised decision letter agreeing to release information relating to three additional business affected parties. RECORD: The record at issue is a 98-page document entitled, ICON Financial Subsystem, Outstanding Fines in Default Under Statutes '519' and '833'. The codes '519' and '833' found in the title of the record refer respectively to the EPA and the regulations under that statute. The appellant is seeking access to the names of individuals and businesses, the amount of the fines, and the court dates when the fines were imposed. DISCUSSION: PERSONAL INFORMATION Introduction The first issues that arise in this appeal are whether the record contains personal information for the purposes of the Act and, if so, to whom that personal information relates. "Personal information" is defined under section 2(1) of the Act to mean recorded information about an identifiable individual, including the individual's name where it appears with other personal information relating to the individual or where the disclosure of the name would reveal other personal information abo
|
|
|
|
|
|
Legislation
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Subject Index
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Signed by
|
|
Dawn Maruno
|
|
|
|
|
|
Published
|
|
Jan 15, 2002
|
|
|
|
|
|
Type
|
|
Order
|
|
|
|
|
|
<<
Back
|
|
|
|
Back to Top
|
 |
|
|
|
© Copyright
2013
Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. All Rights Reserved.
|