The First-tier Tribunal has dismissed an appeal by Soil Association Certification, confirming that it must disclose inspection reports relating to salmon farms it certifies as “organic”.
The ruling follows a decision by the Information Commissioner’s Office that Soil Association Certification is a public authority for the purposes of the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR), because it exercises delegated public functions when certifying food as organic.
The case arose from a request made in May 2024 by WildFish for copies of inspection reports relating to Scottish salmon farms certified as organic. WildFish argued that the information was environmental information and should be disclosed in the public interest.
Soil Association Certification maintained that it was not itself a public authority and that any disclosure obligations lay with Defra. The ICO rejected that position and ordered disclosure. Rather than comply, Soil Association Certification appealed to the Tribunal.
After a two-day hearing, the Tribunal dismissed the appeal in full. It found that Soil Association Certification performs a public administrative role when it certifies products as organic, including having the power to grant, suspend or withdraw certification. As a result, it must respond directly to requests for environmental information.
The Tribunal described the certification role as akin to a licensing function, providing a gateway to the lawful marketing of products as organic. Because those powers go beyond ordinary private contractual relationships, the certification body is subject to transparency obligations under environmental information law.
WildFish supported the Information Commissioner as a respondent in the appeal and now expects the inspection reports requested in 2024 to be disclosed. WildFish will analyse the inspection reports once disclosed and publish any findings.
The Tribunal’s decision coincides with a live public consultation by the Soil Association on its organic salmon standards, a process that will shape whether farmed salmon continues to be marketed as “organic”.
WildFish statement
“This ruling vindicates the reasonable request for information that WildFish first made over 18 months ago. The Tribunal has confirmed that Soil Association Certification is exercising delegated public functions when it certifies salmon farms as ‘organic’, and that with those powers comes a clear duty of transparency.
“Inspection reports go to the heart of whether organic certification of salmon farming is credible at all. The fact that their disclosure was resisted, and had to be tested all the way to Tribunal, only reinforces why independent scrutiny is essential. Now is the time for the Soil Association to stop fighting transparency and start fighting for the environment.”
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“We now encourage anyone concerned about the environment and the future of wild salmon to respond to the Soil Association’s current consultation and urge it to withdraw from certifying farmed salmon as organic. A scheme that depends on chemical treatments, antibiotics and the routine management of disease and parasites is not organic in any meaningful sense, and should stop being used to greenwash an inherently damaging industry.”
Background
- Soil Association Certification is one of a small number of bodies approved by Defra to act as a “control body” under retained EU organic regulations.
- Only products certified by an approved control body can legally be marketed as organic.
- The Environmental Information Regulations implement international obligations designed to ensure public access to information about activities affecting the environment.
- The Tribunal’s ruling confirms that private bodies exercising delegated powers cannot avoid transparency obligations by contractual or organisational form.
- The Soil Association is currently consulting on its standards for certifying organic farmed salmon https://www.soilassociation.org/our-standards/standards-innovation-our-work/uk-organic-salmon-standards/
WildFish will analyse the inspection reports once disclosed and publish findings in the public interest.
