Charging for information

The Environment Agency holds a huge amount of information to do with all aspects of our work from air quality to fishing.

The general aims of our charging for information policy are as follows:

• As far as possible all data that is available to the public will be available by one means or another without charge. In broad terms any reasonable request for information is provided free of charge if the context is non-commercial.
  
• We only charge for information if:

1. we have already made the information available by other means without charge
2. the costs will be more than £450
3. it is for commercial usage involving copying or altering rights that need copyright permission
4. the request is repeated or vexatious.

• When we charge for providing information the amount we charge is usually only to recover our costs for supplying the information. Occasionally we charge a higher amount for providing data in an alternative enhanced format or as part of a value added service. There may also be extra charges for any copyright permission but this is usually only for commercial uses.
  
• Our 'Standard Notice' set out usage rights granted in relation to information required for non-commercial use or commercial use.

We encourage the private sector to make commercial exploitation of our data. When they do so, we use our Intellectual Property Rights in the information to gain a return on the large investment we make in data acquisition and management. This approach helps us to make even more information publicly available.