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Document
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PO-1980
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File #
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PA-010121-1
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Institution/HIC
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Ministry of the Environment
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Summary
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NATURE OF THE APPEAL: In 1999, the Ministry of the Environment (the Ministry) implemented the Drive Clean Program. According to the Ministry, the purpose of the Program was to detect and reduce smog-related emissions from cars, trucks and buses. The Ministry states: The Drive Clean Program has four main goals, which have guided the Program since its inception: a) to reduce smog-causing pollutants by means of testing and repairing vehicles, b) to have zero tolerance for customer abuse by Drive Clean facilities (DCFs") or non-compliance by DCFs with Program requirements, c) to maintain public and industry support for the Program, and d) to have the Drive Clean Program operate as a [sic] remain revenue-neutral environmental initiative. The Ministry points out that similar programs exist in other jurisdictions, and that Ontario's program has been one of the most successful in meeting its goals. The Ministry explains: Gas emission results of every vehicle tested in the program are stored in the Drive Clean database, along with the identification of the vehicle, the license plate number [assigned by the Ministry of Transportation (the "MTO") to the vehicle], service facility identification, and Inspector or Technician identification. There are currently over 3,300,000 such records in the database. The vehicle identification and plate numbers are the same data as contained in the MTO vehicle registration database. The remainder of the data is unique to the Drive Clean database. Both the MTO database and the Drive Clean database are instruments for administering and enforcing Ontario Regulation 628 of the Highway Traffic Act and Regulation 361/98 of the Environmental Protection Act , respectively. In the case of Regulation 361/98, the data are used by [the Ministry] to enforce vehicle emissions limits, as well as performance contracts with service stations. The regulations referred to by the Ministry establish various emissions testing standards and requirements for the operation and registration of various types of vehicles in Ontario. NATURE OF THE APPEAL: This appeal arises from a request made to the Ministry under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act ) for access to electronic records recording information about inspections carried out by facilities under the Drive Clean Program. The requester stated that any information contained in responsive records that could identify individuals should be severed prior to disclosure. He also asked the Ministry to provide an outline explaining the layout of any database files disclosed to him, as well as the file format and translation of all codes used in any database fields. Finally, the requester asked for a paper printout of the first 50 responsive records identified by the Ministry. After notifying one organization whose interests might be affected by disclosure of the responsive data, the Ministry decided not to apply the mandatory third party commercial information exemption claim (section 17(1)) and advised the organization accordingly. The organization did not appeal the Ministry's decision. The Ministry then responded to the requester by identifying that it "is in discussions with a number of private entities to market specialized data formats relating to the [emissions] tests", and denied access to the records on the basis of the following exemptions in the Act : - section 18(1)(a) (valuable government information), and - section 18(1)(c) and (d) (economic and other interests) The requester (now the appellant) appealed the Ministry's decision to this office. Mediation was not successful in resolving the issues in this appeal, and the file was transferred to the adjudication stage. I sent a Notice of Inquiry to the Ministry, seeking representations on the issues. After receiving representations, I sent a copy of the Notice to the appellant, together with the non-confidential portions of the Ministry's representations. The appellant also provided representations, including detailed submissions on the application of section 18(2) of the Act . This section is an exception to the section 18(1) exemptions. Because section 18(2) had not been specifically identified in the original Notice, I sent a reply Notice to the Ministry, providing it with an opportunity to submit representations on the possible application of this section. The appellant's representations were attached to the reply Notice. The Ministry submitted representations addressing section 18(2). Upon receipt of the Ministry's representations by this office, it was determined that they contained a summary of issues discussed during the mediation stage. This portion of the representations was removed before the materials were passed along to me for review, in order to ensure that this "mediation privileged" information was not before me in the context of completing my adjudication of the
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Legislation
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Subject Index
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Signed by
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Tom Mitchinson
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Published
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Dec 20, 2001
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Type
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Order
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© Copyright
2013
Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. All Rights Reserved.
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