Initial decision as to validity of application
51 Initial decision as to validity of application
When an agency receives an application for access to government information that it appears is intended to be an access application, the agency is to decide whether the application is a valid access application and is to notify its decision to the applicant by either—
acknowledging receipt of the application as a valid access application, or
notifying the applicant that the application is not a valid access application.
Note.
An application is not a valid access application if it is an application for excluded information of the agency or does not comply with the formal requirements for access applications.
An agency’s decision as to the validity of an application must be made and notified to the applicant as soon as practicable after the agency receives the application and in any event within 5 working days after the application is received.
Note.
The decision as to the validity of an application is reviewable under Part 5.
An acknowledgement of receipt of a valid access application must include the following—
the date by which the application is required to be decided (subject to any suspension or extension of the time for deciding an application),
a statement that the application will be deemed to have been refused if not decided by the required date,
the following statements about the inclusion of information in the agency’s disclosure log (unless the agency considers it unlikely that information about the application will be included in the disclosure log)—
a statement that information concerning the application is likely to be included in the agency’s disclosure log and that the applicant can object to this,
a statement about the right of review under Part 5 of a decision by the agency to include information in its disclosure log despite the applicant’s objection,
such details of rights of review in connection with access applications as the Information Commissioner may from time to time direct.
Acknowledging receipt of an application as a valid access application does not prevent the agency from subsequently deciding that the application is not a valid access application.
An agency’s decision that an application is not a valid access application is presumed to be correct, subject to any review of the decision under Part 5.
This Act’s bill:Explanatory memorandumSecond reading speech
The statute text is free to read above. View subscription options to unlock the case-law research tools for each provision.