Freedom of Information Act 2000 (c. 36) – Section 54 – Failure to comply with notice.
Sections
Section 54Failure to comply with notice.
(1) If a public authority has failed to comply with—
- (a)so much of a decision notice as requires steps to be taken,
- (b)an information notice, or
- (c)an enforcement notice,
the [F1Commission] may certify in writing to the court that the public authority has failed to comply with that notice.
(2) For the purposes of this section, a public authority which, in purported compliance with an information notice—
- (a)makes a statement which it knows to be false in a material respect, or
- (b)recklessly makes a statement which is false in a material respect,
is to be taken to have failed to comply with the notice.
(3) Where a failure to comply is certified under subsection (1), the court may inquire into the matter and, after hearing any witness who may be produced against or on behalf of the public authority, and after hearing any statement that may be offered in defence, deal with the authority as if it had committed a contempt of court.
(4) In this section “the court” means the High Court or, in Scotland, the Court of Session.
Amended text
This Section is shown as amended by S.I. 2026/386 (see the annotations below), as incorporated in the text in force on 7 October 2026 as published on legislation.gov.uk.
Annotations
Textual Amendments
- F1 Word in s. 54(1) substituted (30.9.2026) by The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2026 (S.I. 2026/386), reg. 1(2), Sch. 2 para. 12(16); S.I. 2026/1015, reg. 2(c)
Modifications etc. (not altering text)
- C1 S. 54 applied (with modifications) (31.12.2009) by The INSPIRE Regulations 2009 (S.I. 2009/3157), reg. 11 (as amended (30.9.2026) by The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2026 (S.I. 2026/386), reg. 1(2), Sch. 3 para. 12(2); S.I. 2026/1015, reg. 2(c))
- C2 S. 54 excluded (18.7.2015) by The Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015 (S.I. 2015/1415), regs. 1, 22(7) (with regs. 5, 11(4))
- C3 S. 54 applied (with modifications) (18.7.2015) by The Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015 (S.I. 2015/1415), regs. 1, 18 (with regs. 5, 11(4))
Commencement Information
- I1 S. 54 wholly in force at 1.1.2005; s. 54 not in force at Royal assent, see s. 87(3); s. 54 in force for certain purposes at 30.11.2002 by S.I. 2002/2812, art. 2(d)(e); s. 54 in force for certain further purposes at 1.1.2005 by S.I. 2004/1909, art. 2 and otherwise in force at 1.1.2005 by S.I. 2004/3122, art. 2
https://foia.digiphile.law/article/article-54.html
Text as at 7 October 2026.
This is an unofficial convenience version of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. It is presented “as is” without guarantee of accuracy, completeness or reliability. See the source text for the official version. This site was last updated in October 2026.