Cyriel Ruers and Bas van Os counsel pharmaceutical company regarding Freedom of Information Act requests at several administrative bodies relating to commercially sensitive information
The information requests were made, among others, to a university hospital and a medical regulator and relates to information about drug studies. Such information is commercially sensitive and can be used by competitors, for example, in patent disputes. The Dutch Freedom of Information Act (Wet open overheid, Woo) is the successor to the Government Information Act (Wet openbaarheid van bestuur, Wob), under which anyone can request information held by an administrative body. University hospitals and medical regulators qualify as administrative bodies. This means that citizens and companies - including competitors - can try to request information from such bodies under the Woo.
However, the Woo contains certain grounds for exceptions, under which, among other things, the disclosure of a company's confidential information can be refused. A company whose information is requested must be given the opportunity to raise objections to the requested disclosure. If a company fails to do so, there is a risk that company confidential information will be made public, for example on the government's site.
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