Article C4 Inspection of background papers
Subject, in the case of article C3(1), to paragraph (2) below, if and so long as copies of the whole or part of a report for a meeting of the Authority are required by article C2(1) or C3(1) above to be open to inspection by members of the public—
copies of a list, compiled by the proper officer, of the background papers for the report of the part of the report, and
at least one copy of each of the documents included in that list,
shall also be open to their inspection at the offices of the Authority.
Paragraph (1) above does not require a copy of the list, or of any document included in the list, to be open to inspection after the expiration of the period of four years beginning with the date of the meeting.
Where a copy of any of the background papers for a report is required by paragraph (1) above to be open to inspection by members of the public, the copy shall be taken for the purposes of this Part to be so open if arrangements exist for its production to members of the public as soon as is reasonably practicable after the making of a request to inspect the copy.
Nothing in this article—
requires any document which discloses exempt information to be included in the list referred to in paragraph (1) above; or
without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (2) of article C1 above, requires or authorises the inclusion in the list of any document which, if open to inspection by the public, would disclose confidential information in breach of the obligation of confidence, within the meaning of that paragraph.
For the purposes of this article the background papers for a report are those documents relating to the subject matter of the report which—
disclose any facts or matters on which, in the opinion of the proper officer, the report or an important part of the report is based, and
have, in his opinion, been relied on to a material extent in preparing the report,
but do not include any published works.