ICO Decision On Judicial Department
Information Commissioner Jason Outerbridge has issued Decision 03/2026 regarding the Judicial Department.
A spokesperson said, “On 17 April 2026, Information Commissioner Jason Outerbridge issued Decision 03/2026, Judicial Department [Department], after conducting an external review of the Department’s refusal to grant access to records related to certain Coroner’s functions. The Department’s refusal relied on section 4[1][a] of the Public Access Information [PATI] Act 2010.
“Section 4[1][a] removes from the application of the PATI Act records relating to the exercise of judicial or quasi-judicial functions by any court, tribunal or other body or person. However, section 4[2] brings records relating to the general administration of these public authorities within scope of the PATI Act and available for public disclosure.
“In this review, the Information Commissioner affirmed the Department’s internal review decision to refuse access to six types of records, because the Commissioner agreed that the records related to the judicial or quasi-judicial functions of a Coroner and were not related to the general administration of the Department. The requested records were therefore excluded from the PATI Act under section 4[1][a]. These kinds of records are not available for public disclosure by PATI request.
“The Commissioner also varied the Department’s internal review decision for one item in the request, because even though the requested records did not exist or could not be found by the Department, by their description, they too related to the exercise of judicial or quasi-judicial functions of a Coroner which put them outside the scope of the PATI Act by virtue of section 4[1][a].
“No further action was required by the Department by this Decision.
“The Information Commissioner publicly praised the Department for improving how it represents information and statistics about the Coroner’s Office activities in the Bermuda Judiciary’s 2025 Annual Report. As a result of the Department’s cooperation with this review, the public can now easily access statistical data about causes of death in Coroner’s cases over several years.
“The Commissioner closed this decision by encouraging the Department [and the Judiciary] to continue to proactively publish more information, data and statistics about the activities of the Coroner’s Office. Proactively, or voluntarily, publishing information of relevance or interest to the general public promotes openness and transparency which builds public trust and confidence in the work of the Coroner’s Office, the Department and the Judiciary.”
The full version of Decision 03/2026 follows below [PDF here]:
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