FOI - Customs & Border Control
Freedom of Information
The Freedom of Information (“FOI”) Act promotes government accountability, transparency, and public participation in national decision-making by granting the public a general right of access to records held by the Cayman Islands Government. It also requires that certain information be made available proactively.
The FOI Act applies to “public authorities”, which are all Ministries, Portfolios, Offices, Departments, Statutory Authorities or Bodies, and Government Companies. If the information you are seeking is held by a public authority in connection with its functions, the FOI Act applies to that record. Under the FOI Act, records are defined as “information held in any form”, including documents, maps, plans, graphs or drawings, photographs, and audio or video recordings. Records can be requested by the public regardless of the date they were created or who created or supplied the records.
How It Works
Each public authority has a designated Information Manager who processes FOI requests. You can email your FOI request to the public authority’s FOI email address.
If your request is processed under the FOI Act, you will receive a written acknowledgement within 10 days. The public authority must also provide you with a decision as soon as practicable, but no more than 30 days from the day your request was received unless a 30-day extension is taken for good cause. If the public authority requires an extension of time, you will be informed before the first 30 days expires.
A list of all public authorities and the name and contact details for their Information Managers on the list of Public Authorities.
List of FOI Public Authorities
List of FOI Public Authorities.
The Cayman Islands National Archive maintains a list of public authorities that are responsible for managing records in accordance with the National Archive and Public Records Act (2015 Revision), and responding to requests under the Freedom of Information Act (2021 Revision).
Updated 13th October 2025. Amendments can be sent by email to Emerson.Bryan@gov.ky or cina_rim@gov.ky.
If you intend to make the same request to all public authorities, or if you don’t know where to direct your request after consulting the list above, you may send your request to foi@gov.ky with an explanation. The Information Rights Unit in the Cabinet Office, which helps to coordinate FOI across the public sector, will then direct your request appropriately and the relevant public authority or public authorities will respond directly to you. On occasion, requests that cover multiple public authorities will be centrally managed to give you one point of contact, to ensure communications are clear, and to ensure you receive all records that you are entitled to access under the FOI Act.
FOI requests must be in writing (via email is the most common method). While requests must include a name and contact information, the name you provide can be an alias or pseudonym if you would like to make an anonymous request.
However, if you are requesting your own personal information, identity verification is required. While providing a reason for your request may help the public authority to identify relevant records, this is optional. A public authority cannot require you to provide a reason for your request or ask what you intend to do with the information.
When information managers receive requests for information they evaluate them to determine if the information is:
- Already in the public domain (not an FOI request) – you will be directed to the website where the information is published;
- Accessible through an existing process (not an FOI request) – you will be directed to the existing process for accessing that information;
- Something the public authority can provide you in the normal course of business, quickly and efficiently (not formally treated as an FOI request); or
- A request that needs to be evaluated to determine what responsive records are held and if there are any limitations to what can be provided (FOI request).
The FOI Act allows you to request access to records that are held by the Cayman Islands Government. If your request is unclear or does not include enough information to identify the records you are seeking, the Information Manager will consult you and assist in identifying records that may be relevant to your application.
If you have general questions you would like to ask, or if you would like to make a journalistic or media inquiry, your question may be directed to a communications lead or other appropriate person to provide you with answers in the normal course of business (outside of the formal FOI process), including communication via phone. If you would then like to request any relevant records, they will either be provided to you in the normal course of business or processed under FOI by the relevant Information Manager.
When Information May Be Withheld
The FOI Act does not apply to certain public functions or records – including the judicial functions of a Court, strategic or operational intelligence-gathering activities of the security or intelligence services, and private holdings of the National Archive – and does not override other legislation that restricts access to records.
The general right of access in the FOI Act is also subject to limited exemptions which balance the right of access against the public interest in not disclosing information that would prejudice governmental or commercial interests or constitute an unreasonable disclosure of personal information of a third party.
In limited instances, there may be procedural reasons why an FOI request is not granted, e.g. compliance with the request would amount to an unreasonable diversion of resources and the Information Manager is unable to sufficiently narrow the scope following consultation with the applicant.
If you have made an FOI request and do not receive everything you have asked for, you are entitled to a written response that explains the reasons for that decision. You will also have the right to appeal that decision if you are not satisfied. In the first instance, this is usually by way of internal review by the Chief Officer or Head of Department.
The Ombudsman
The Ombudsman is the supervisory authority for FOI in the Cayman Islands. As an impartial and independent office of Parliament, the Ombudsman handles complaints and appeals, monitors and reports on compliance, makes general or specific recommendations for reform, and is responsible for public education. The Ombudsman also reports to Parliament on the operations of the FOI Act and may undertake investigations, either proactively or in response to a complaint.
You can learn more about FOI and the Ombudsman’s role at ombudsman.ky/foi.
Making a Request
We want to help you find the information you are interested in.
If you want to request information from the Customs and Border Control Service, you should initially look at the disclosure log to see if the information you seek has already been published.
Requests must be in writing (letter, email or facsimile) and must include your name and an address (either postal or e-mail). Please be as specific as possible about the information you would like, as this will help us to respond promptly. Where possible, please include a contact telephone number so we can call to discuss your request if necessary.
We will respond to your request promptly. The Law requires public authorities to respond within 30 calendar days, allowing an extension of an additional 30 calendar days if needed. We will always acknowledge receipt of FOI requests made to the Information Manager and we will let you know if we need to extend the deadline. For detailed advice on what sorts of information is exempt please see the Ombudsman’s website at https://www.ombudsman.ky/foi.
Fees associated with a Request for Information:
There is no application fee and no fee for going to a public authority and looking at a record requested by FOI. However, a requester may be required to pay copying or change of format fees. Details concerning costs and payment are contained in the FOI Regulations which are available on the Ombudsman’s website at https://www.ombudsman.ky/foi.
Classes of Information
Classes of Information
A Class of Information is a way of collecting together similar types of information. Customs and Border Control has grouped its Classes of Information into broad categories (or functions) which reflect the Customs and Border Control’s outputs. If you are intending to make a request, the following grouping of information should give you an indication of where the information may be found.
Function – Administration
Function – Policy development and advice
Function – Operational support and advice
Right of Appeal
Internal Review
If you make a request under the Freedom of Information Act and are not satisfied with our response, you are entitled to an internal review.
To request an internal review, please put your appeal in writing and either e-mail or post it to the Information Manager. Include your:
- name
- address
- telephone number, and the
- reference number at the top of our letter or e-mail to you.
You have 30 calendar days from the date of receipt of a refusal to request an internal review. Please explain why you would like us to review our original response.
Under section 33 of the FOI Act, you may ask for an Internal Review of a response to your request:
- If you were refused access;
- If you were granted partial access to the record(s) specified in your application;
- If your request was deferred;
- If there was a refusal to amend or annotate an official document containing personal information; or
- If a fee was charged for action taken, or if you disagree with the amount of the fee charged. This applies only where the decision was taken by a person other than the responsible Minister, Chief Officer or Principal Officer of the public authority.
Appeal to the Ombudsman
If you are dissatisfied with the internal review of our decision, or an internal review was not available, you can seek an appeal from the Office of the Ombudsman in writing.
See the Office of the Ombudsman appeal request form
FOI Managers
Last updated: 2 October 2023
