{
  "id": "uk-foia-2000",
  "name": "Freedom of Information Act 2000",
  "short_name": "FOIA 2000",
  "citation": "2000 c. 36",
  "jurisdiction": "foreign",
  "state": null,
  "state_name": null,
  "country": "United Kingdom",
  "country_code": "GB",
  "url": "https://aletheca.com/laws/uk-foia-2000",
  "description": "The United Kingdom's access law for public authorities, including the Ministry of Defence. Scotland runs its own act (FOISA 2002); UK-wide bodies answer under this one.",
  "statutory_days": 20,
  "business_days": true,
  "statutory_text": "20 working days from receipt to respond; extendable a 'reasonable' period where the public-interest balance on a qualified exemption is still being weighed.",
  "appeal_deadline_days": null,
  "appeal_basis": null,
  "appeal_process": "Internal review by the authority, then complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), then the First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights).",
  "litigation": "First-tier Tribunal (Information Rights); Upper Tribunal on a point of law.",
  "fee_waiver_standard": "Requests are free. An authority may refuse where compliance would exceed the cost limit — £600 for central government, £450 otherwise, rated at £25 an hour.",
  "expedited_criteria": [],
  "exemptions": [
    "s.23 Security bodies",
    "s.24 National security",
    "s.26 Defence",
    "s.27 International relations",
    "s.40 Personal data",
    "s.12 Cost limit"
  ],
  "portal": "https://www.gov.uk/make-a-freedom-of-information-request",
  "turnaround_notes": "The MoD generally answers inside the 20 working days; public-interest extensions are routine on defence and security files.",
  "quirks": "The MoD's UFO desk closed on 1 December 2009 and its files were transferred to The National Archives — the historic records are a TNA request, not an MoD one.",
  "sources": [
    {
      "label": "legislation.gov.uk — Freedom of Information Act 2000",
      "url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/contents",
      "status": "verified",
      "checked_at": "2026-08-31"
    }
  ],
  "text": null,
  "text_note": null,
  "agencies": [
    {
      "slug": "uk-mod",
      "name": "Ministry of Defence",
      "local_name": null,
      "abbr": "MoD",
      "jurisdiction": "foreign",
      "state": null,
      "state_name": null,
      "country": "United Kingdom",
      "country_code": "GB",
      "category": "defense",
      "agency_type": "ministry",
      "parent": null,
      "parent_name": null,
      "url": "https://aletheca.com/agencies/uk-mod",
      "website": "https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-defence",
      "reading_room": null,
      "subject_to_foia": true,
      "law": {
        "id": "uk-foia-2000",
        "citation": "2000 c. 36",
        "statutory_days": 20,
        "business_days": true,
        "appeal_deadline_days": null
      },
      "intake": [
        {
          "channel": "email",
          "detail": "CIO-FOI@mod.gov.uk",
          "label": "MOD Information Rights Team",
          "verified": true,
          "verification": "verified",
          "verification_source": null,
          "last_checked": null,
          "automatable": false,
          "preferred": false,
          "reliability": null,
          "instructions": null
        },
        {
          "channel": "portal",
          "detail": "https://www.gov.uk/make-a-freedom-of-information-request",
          "label": "gov.uk FOI guidance and online route",
          "verified": true,
          "verification": "verified",
          "verification_source": null,
          "last_checked": null,
          "automatable": false,
          "preferred": false,
          "reliability": null,
          "instructions": null
        },
        {
          "channel": "mail",
          "detail": "MOD Information Rights Team, Ministry of Defence, Main Building, Whitehall, London SW1A 2HB",
          "label": "Postal mail",
          "verified": false,
          "verification": "unverified",
          "verification_source": null,
          "last_checked": null,
          "automatable": false,
          "preferred": false,
          "reliability": null,
          "instructions": null
        }
      ],
      "submission_readiness": null,
      "holdings": [
        "UFO desk (Sec(AS)/DI55) policy and correspondence after the 2009 closure",
        "Air defence and radar incident reporting",
        "FOI releases published on gov.uk"
      ],
      "tips": [
        "The UFO desk closed on 1 December 2009 and its files went to The National Archives — historic sighting reports are a TNA request, not an MoD one.",
        "If s.26 (defence) is claimed, ask for the public-interest balance to be stated; it is a qualified exemption, not an absolute one."
      ],
      "tracking": "FOI reference issued by the Information Rights Team on acknowledgement.",
      "confidence": "high",
      "source": "Hand-compiled international layer. Bodies and statutes are real; contact routes are inferred unless marked verified, and none has yet been proven by a delivered letter."
    },
    {
      "slug": "uk-national-archives",
      "name": "The National Archives",
      "local_name": null,
      "abbr": "TNA",
      "jurisdiction": "foreign",
      "state": null,
      "state_name": null,
      "country": "United Kingdom",
      "country_code": "GB",
      "category": "general_government",
      "agency_type": "archive",
      "parent": null,
      "parent_name": null,
      "url": "https://aletheca.com/agencies/uk-national-archives",
      "website": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk",
      "reading_room": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/ufos/",
      "subject_to_foia": true,
      "law": {
        "id": "uk-foia-2000",
        "citation": "2000 c. 36",
        "statutory_days": 20,
        "business_days": true,
        "appeal_deadline_days": null
      },
      "intake": [
        {
          "channel": "portal",
          "detail": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/freedom-of-information/",
          "label": "TNA Freedom of Information",
          "verified": true,
          "verification": "verified",
          "verification_source": null,
          "last_checked": null,
          "automatable": false,
          "preferred": false,
          "reliability": null,
          "instructions": null
        },
        {
          "channel": "portal",
          "detail": "https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk",
          "label": "Discovery catalogue (closed-record FOI challenges)",
          "verified": false,
          "verification": "unverified",
          "verification_source": null,
          "last_checked": null,
          "automatable": false,
          "preferred": false,
          "reliability": null,
          "instructions": null
        },
        {
          "channel": "mail",
          "detail": "The National Archives, Kew, Richmond TW9 4DU",
          "label": "Postal mail",
          "verified": true,
          "verification": "verified",
          "verification_source": null,
          "last_checked": null,
          "automatable": false,
          "preferred": false,
          "reliability": null,
          "instructions": null
        }
      ],
      "submission_readiness": null,
      "holdings": [
        "The released MoD UFO files — DEFE 24, DEFE 31, AIR 2, AIR 20 and FCO series, 1950–2009",
        "Project Condign report (DEFE 31/171–172)",
        "UFO policy files released 2008–2013 in tranches"
      ],
      "tips": [
        "Search Discovery for series DEFE, AIR, FCO and BJ before filing — most UFO files are already open and many are digitised.",
        "A closed record can be challenged with an FOI request made directly from its Discovery catalogue page.",
        "The MoD destroyed early sighting files at five-year intervals until 1967 — absence before then is documented, not suspicious."
      ],
      "tracking": "FOI request number issued by the FOI Centre.",
      "confidence": "high",
      "source": "Hand-compiled international layer. Bodies and statutes are real; contact routes are inferred unless marked verified, and none has yet been proven by a delivered letter."
    }
  ]
}