Freedom of Information: A Comparative Legal Survey - Federation of ...

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educational or scientifi c institutions which are not for commercial purposes may be billed only “reasonable
standard charges for document duplication” and all other requests may be charged for search and
duplication (clause (a)(4)(A)(ii)). For the latter two categories of document, no fees may be charged for the
fi rst two hours of search or for duplication of the fi rst 100 pages of documents. And no fee may be charged
where the cost of collecting the fee would exceed the value of the fee (clause (a)(4)(A)(iv)).
Only direct costs may be levied. As regards any charges for ‘review’, these shall apply only to the initial
examination of the document to determine whether it should be disclosed. Furthermore, where disclosure
is in the public interest because it is, “likely to contribute signifi cantly to public understanding of the
operations or activities of the government”, records must be provided without charge or at a lower charge
than would otherwise be the case (clause (a)(4)(A)(iii)). This is, in effect, a waiver for the media, as well as
for NGOs who can show a public interest use. Finally, no advance fee may be charged unless the applicant
has already failed to pay a fee or the public body determines that the fee will exceed US$250 (clause
(a)(4)(A)(v)).
This fee regime does not displace any statutory charging system for information (clause (a)(4)(A)(vi)).
Duty to Publish
The Law provides for two different obligations to make information available to the public on a proactive
basis. Each public body is required to publish certain information in the Federal Register, as provided for
in paragraph (a)(1), including the following:
a description of its central and fi eld organisation;
the manner in which and from whom information may be requested;
an overview of its general functions and of all formal and informal procedures;
rules of procedure and a description of all forms and papers produced;
statements of policy and legal rules of general applicability; and
any amendments to the above.
The Law also requires public bodies, in accordance with published rules, to make available for public
inspection and copying a range of information, unless this information is to be published shortly and
offered for sale. Records covered which were created after 1 November 1996 must be made available by
electronic means. Information covered by this rule includes fi nal opinions and orders, statements of policy
and interpretations and administrative staff manuals. Signifi cantly, this rule also covers records released
pursuant to a request which, “the agency determines have become or are likely to become the subject of
subsequent requests for substantially the same records”, as well as an index of such records, which must
be made available electronically. Information may be deleted from these records, to “the extent required
to prevent a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy” but in such cases a written justifi cation
must be provided and the extent of the deletion must be indicated, unless this itself would result in the
disclosure of exempt information. Public bodies must maintain an index of all records covered by this rule,
which must be published at least quarterly (paragraph (a)(2)).
Every public body which has more than one member is also required to make available for public inspection
a record of the fi nal votes of each member in every proceeding of the body (paragraph (a)(5)).