The EIRs aren under an absolute exemption from FOI, so doesn that mean the public interest test is carried out twice?
No. A public authority that receives a request for information that it holds must decide whether the request is for environmental information or for information which needs to be dealt with under the FOI Act. To do this, the authority looks to the definition of environmental information in the EIR. If the request is for environmental information the request must be dealt with under the EIR only. The FOI will not apply. Section 39 of the FOI Act provides a gateway through which the request goes into the EIR.
