Solana Seeds UK intended export of seed potatoes to Russia: EIR release

Information requested

1. In the period February 2022 to July 2022 all information held in respect of the requests and applications made by Solana from 27 February 2022 which pertain in any way to Solana’s intended export of seed potatoes to Russia.

2. All and any information between SASA and any other parts of the Scottish Government pertaining to the matters referred to in paragraph 1.

3. The meeting notes of 7 March 2022 when the Minister for Environment and Land Reform met with Solana together with any preparatory notes or other information subsequent notes and information.

4. All and any information between SASA and any other part of the Scottish Government which in any way pertained to the Scottish Government’s press release published on 3 March 2022 whereby Finance and Economy Secretary urged businesses in Scotland to withdraw from Russia, following its invasion of Ukraine.

5. All information regarding the delays following the request for Labels on 28 February 2022 and the issuing of a certificate 21 March 2022.

6. All information pertaining to the decision by or on behalf of SASA in late February and early March 2022 to remove Russia from the approved export list and to prevent the issuing of phytosanitary certificates and the drawing of labels.

7. All information pertaining to the decision made by SASA on 9 March 2022 to issue the necessary phytosanitary certificates to enable Solana consignments to be dispatched to Russia.

Response

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested in electronic format as requested.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because exceptions under regulations 10(4)(e) internal communications, 10(5)(e) substantial prejudice to confidentiality of commercial information of the EIRs applies to that information and 11(1) personal information. The reasons why these exceptions apply are explained in the Annex to this letter.

ANNEX

REASONS FOR NOT PROVIDING INFORMATION

An exception applies

An exception under regulation 10(4)(e) of the EIRs (internal communications) applies to some of the information you have requested because it is internal communication between officials regarding information which may be in scope of this request. This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’.

Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception. We recognise that there is some public interest in release as part of open, transparent and accountable government, and to inform public debate. However, there is a greater public interest in high quality policy and decisionmaking, and in the properly considered implementation and development of policies and decisions.

This means that Ministers and officials need to be able to consider all available options and to debate those rigorously, to fully understand their possible implications. Their candour in doing so will be affected by their assessment of whether the discussions on decisions relating to trade with Russia will be disclosed in the near future.

An exception under regulation 10(5)(e) of the EIRs (substantial prejudice to confidentiality of commercial information) applies to some of the information you have requested. This exception applies because disclosure of this particular information would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the confidentiality of commercial information provided and thus cause substantial harm to their commercial interests.

An exception under regulation 11(1) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal information, and so it is subject to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

EIR 202400428229 - Information released - Documents

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