States of Jersey agreement with 3M

Request ​757930618​

Ref PFAS.

In 2004 the States of Jersey entered into a secret agreement with 3M, regarding the toxic firefighting foam that had been used at the airport, in exchange for $3.0m (approx. £2.6m).

The Agreement, in general terms it is secret, bound the States not to take further action and to discourage, inhibit, delay and generally prevent the public from taking action against 3M.The matter was debated "in camera" so the public have no proper knowledge of the arguments.

Since the Agreement, 3M and DuPont / Chemours have lost numerous court cases and legal challenges and have paid out hundreds of millions of dollars in fines and compensation. At the time Jersey signed the agreement there was little knowledge, outside the two companies of the true toxicity and threat posed by the PFAS family of chemicals.

1. Is the Government of Jersey still bound by this Agreement?

2. If so, can the Government repudiate the agreement upon the basis that not all information was made available and/or that recent information invalidates the basis of the Agreement?

3. Upon the premise that the Agreement is clearly now against the public interest what is the correct procedure by which the public can present, and possibly past, politicians to account and force them to repudiate the Agreement.

Thank you.

Clarification Request

The current format of your request poses questions, could you please clarify what information you are seeking that can be provided in recorded form.

Clarification Response

“The preamble was for information to ensure my FOI went to the correct department.

Question 1, only requires a yes/no answer.

Question 2, dependent upon answer to above I will pursue other enquiries, please ignore.

Question 3, Amendment – How / where can one discover if there is a legal mechanism by means of which the public can challenge Members of the States please?

Response

1, 2 and 3 The request poses a question rather than seeking information held in a recorded form, therefore, Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies.

However, from the additional information you have provided on your clarification, the Scheduled Public Authority (SPA) would advise that the links below could support you with your request.

States Assembly | The States Greffe

Homepage | Citizens Advice Jersey​

Article applied

Article 3 - Meaning of “information held by a public authority”

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if –

(a) it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or

(b) it is held by another person on behalf of the authority​.​