Oslo and Paris Conventions (OSPAR) compliance status of marine deposit by rocket launch: EIR release

Information requested

Thank you for your reply to my request. I seek clarification of a statement you have made: "compliance with OSPAR will be considered in determining this application".

In this clarification, can you please tell me whether the proposed deposit into the sea is considered as an intentional, deliberate, pre-planned and/or integral part of the launch mission or voyage, or is it considered to be only a necessary consequence? If intentional, deliberate, pre planned or integral, how would it comply with OSPAR in your judgement?

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.

The deposit is both pre-planned as well as an unavoidable consequence of the launch activity as opposed to the main purpose of the overall launch activity. As such, we do not consider that the activity falls within any category of prohibited dumping under OSPAR.

Compliance with the OSPAR convention will be addressed in relation to each marine licence application as it is made. No formal statement in relation to OSPAR compliance has been published for these kinds of activities.

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