Section 55: Public registry

(1) For the purpose of facilitating public access to records relating to environmental assessments, a public registry shall be established and operated in accordance with the provisions of this Act in respect of every project for which an environmental assessment is conducted.
(2) The public registry in respect of a project shall be maintained-
(a) by the Agency, from the commencement of the environmental assessment until any follow-up programme in respect of the project is completed; and
(b) where the project is referred to mediation or a review panel by the Agency, from the appointment of the mediator or the members of the review panel until the report of the mediator or review panel is submitted to the Agency or the Secretary to the Government of the Federation as the case may be.
(3) Subject to subsection (4) of this section, a public registry shall contain all records and information produced, collected or submitted with respect to the environmental assessment of the project, including-
(a) any report relating to the assessment;
(b) any comments filed by the public in relation to the assessment; and
(c) any record prepared by the Agency for the purposes of section 35 of this Act.
(4) A public registry shall contain a record referred to in subsection (3) of this section if the record falls within one of the following categories-
(a) records that have otherwise been made available to the public carrying out the assessment pursuant to this Act and any additional records, that have otherwise been made publicly available;
(b) a record or part of a record that the Agency, in the case of a record in its possession, or any other Ministry or government agency, determines would have been disclosed to the public if a request had been made in respect of that record at the time the record was filed with the registry, including any record that would be disclosed in the public interest;
(c) any record or part of a record, except a record or part containing third party information, if the President in the case of a record in the Agency's possession, or the President believes on reasonable grounds that its disclosure would be in the public interest because it is required in order for the public to participate effectively in the assessment.
(5) Notwithstanding any other enactment, no civil or criminal proceedings shall lie against the Agency, or against any person acting on behalf of or under the direction of the Agency, and no proceedings shall lie against the State or any of its agencies, for the disclosure in good faith of any record or any part of a record pursuant to this Act, for any consequences that flow from that disclosure and for failure to give any notice if reasonable care is taken to give the required notice.
(6) For the purposes of this section, "third party information" means-
(a) trade secrets of a third party;
(b) financial, commercial, scientific or technical information that is confidential information supplied to a government institution by a third party and is treated consistently in a confidential manner by the third party;
(c) information, the disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to result in material financial loss or gain to, or could reasonably be expected to prejudice the competitive position of a third party; and
(d) information, the disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to interfere with contractual or other negotiations of a third party.