Specific Approval List maintained by ECGC was denied u/s 8(1)(d) & 8(1)(e) - PIO: disclosure will harm the business interest of the Corporation as it will reveal the source of information to the competitors - CIC: no larger public interest in disclosure
6 Dec, 2013ORDER
1. The appellant through his RTI application dated 22.5.2012 sought copy of Specific Approval List (SAL) maintained by the ECGC. The CPIO vide letter No. ECGC/HO (BD)/ RTI/ 0001/ 06/2012 dated 4.6.2012 informed the appellant that Specific Approval List is meant for bank customer and sharing of which is exempted under the provisions of Section 8(1)(d) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; of the RTI Act.
2. Aggrieved with the reply of the CPIO, the appellant filed appeal on 27.8.2012 before the FAA. The FAA vide order No. BD/FAA/2012 dated 31.10.2012 informed the appellant that the information relating to Specific Approval List is meant only for the use of Banks and all such information/ documents are exempt from being disclosed to any third party, being confidential in nature and thus exempt from disclosure under section 8(1)(d) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; and section 8(1)(e) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, unless the competent authority is satisfied that the larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, unless the competent authority is satisfied that the larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; of the RTI Act.
3. In his second appeal filed before the Commission the appellant states that ECGC being a Public Enterprise, the SAL should be disclosed as ECGC is dealing with public money. The ECGC is providing great disservice to this country by refusing to release such crucial information under RTI.
4. The Commission during the hearing directed the CPIO to file his written submissions how the information sought for by the appellant is exempted under section 8(1)(d) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, unless the competent authority is satisfied that larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; and section 8(1)(e) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, unless the competent authority is satisfied that the larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, there shall be no obligation to give any citizen, information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, unless the competent authority is satisfied that the larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information; of the RTI Act. In compliance with the directions of the Commission, the CPIO vide his letter dated 13.11.2013 filed his submissions in which he states as follows:
That ECGC is a Government Company established for the purpose of promoting export trade and engaged in providing credit insurance cover to (i) Exporters over their credit risk on overseas buyers; and (ii) Banks over their credit risk on export financing to Indian borrowers;
The SAL relates to those instances, where Banks which grant export credit facilities to their exporter clients seek insurance cover from the ECGC in respect of the risk undertaken by them in granting such facilities to their customers;
The ECGC maintains the SAL which contains the names of such exporters who, in its opinion required to be looked into in more details before any credit risk on them is accepted by ECGC. It is a list of exporters who are potential borrowers and in respect of whom the ECGC should be afforded an opportunity to have a credit risk assessment. The criteria for placing an exporter in the SAL is the existence of such circumstances as would warrant specific consideration of the risk involved while underwriting the advances granted to such exporters. The Bank is required to seek prior approval of the Corporation for granting credit to such exporters whose names have been included in the SAL, only if the banks require cover this Corporation for such credit. As a credit risk insurer this Corporation has the unassailable right to assess the credit risk that are offered to it for cover and to decline such risks that are patently uninsurable or found to be bad risk and to accept such risks subject to conditions as may be deemed appropriate. Hence for this purpose this list called SAL, it is prepared and maintained and also constantly updated by the Corporation from time to time;
That the SAL is a source of information prepared, maintained and constantly updated by the Corporation for protection of its business interest;
That disclosure of SAL to public at large or the application under RTI will prejudicially harm the business interest of the Corporation, as by not only providing credible source of information to our competitors in the business of credit insurance but also other credit rating agencies and investment advisors which are in these businesses for commercial considerations. They may have free access to information created at efforts and costs by the Corporation, for the purpose of internal consumption by the Corporation for commercial use/exploitation;
The extract of Export Credit Insurance for Banks (whole turnover packing credit), Export Credit Insurance for Banks (whole turnover post shipment) Bonds i.e. exact contract of insurance with Banks, wherein SAL has been defined and Corporation has reserved its right to inform/notify the Banks of the names appearing in SAL: “The Corporation reserves the right to notify the Insured the names of exporters and of related entities as being placed in the SAL maintained by the Corporation or as being removed from the SAL as the case may be. Any such Notification issued by the Corporation and advised to the Insured shall be binding on the Insured”.
5. Having considered the submissions of the parties, the Commission is of the view that disclosure of the Specific Approval List (SAL) of ECGC, as sought for by the appellant in his RTI application will harm the competitive position of the respondent. Moreover, no larger public interest has been established by the appellant for the disclosure of this information. Therefore the information sought for by the appellant is exempted from disclosure under the provisions of Section 8(1) (d) of the RTI Act. The Commission finds no reason to disagree with the replies of the respondent. The matter is accordingly disposed of on the part of the Commission.
(Sushma Singh)
Information Commissioner
Citation: Shri Anand Singhania v. Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Ltd, in Case No. CIC/SS/A/2013/000076