Section 20 — Access to Information Act: Third party information

Subject to this section, the head of a government institution shall refuse to disclose any record requested under this Part that contains trade secrets of a third party; financial, commercial, scientific or technical information that is confidential information supplied to a government institution by a third party and is treated consistently in a confidential manner by the third party; information that is supplied in confidence to a government institution by a third party for the preparation, maintenance, testing or implementation by the government institution of emergency management plans within the meaning of section 2 of the Emergency Management Act and that concerns the vulnerability of the third party’s buildings or other structures, its networks or systems, including its computer or communications networks or systems, or the methods used to protect any of those buildings, structures, networks or systems; information the disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to result in material financial loss or gain to, or could reasonably be expected to prejudice the competitive position of, a third party; or information the disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to interfere with contractual or other negotiations of a third party. The head of a government institution shall not, pursuant to subsection (1), refuse to disclose a part of a record if that part contains the results of product or environmental testing carried out by or on behalf of a government institution unless the testing was done as a service to a person, a group of persons or an organization other than a government institution and for a fee. Where the head of a government institution discloses a record requested under this Part, or a part thereof, that contains the results of product or environmental testing, the head of the institution shall at the same time as the record or part thereof is disclosed provide the person who requested the record with a written explanation of the methods used in conducting the tests. For the purposes of this section, the results of product or environmental testing do not include the results of preliminary testing conducted for the purpose of developing methods of testing. The head of a government institution may disclose any record that contains information described in subsection (1) with the consent of the third party to whom the information relates. The head of a government institution may disclose all or part of a record requested under this Part that contains information described in any of paragraphs (1)(b) to (d) if the disclosure would be in the public interest as it relates to public health, public safety or protection of the environment; and the public interest in disclosure clearly outweighs in importance any financial loss or gain to a third party, any prejudice to the security of its structures, networks or systems, any prejudice to its competitive position or any interference with its contractual or other negotiations.