23 Marcus Clarke Street
Canberra ACT 2601
Our ref:
PRJ1007643
GPO Box 3131
Contact officer:
FOI Team
Canberra ACT 2601
Contact phone:
02 6243 1244
tel: (02) 6243 1111
22 October 2024
fax: (02) 6243 1199
CR
www.accc.gov.au
Sent via email to: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear CR
Notice of intention to refuse access to documents requested
I refer to your FOI request of 1 October 2024. The ACCC is considering refusing your
request, as currently framed, under s.24 of the
Freedom of Information Act 1982
(Cth) (FOI Act) because a practical refusal reason exists.
Before making a final decision you have an opportunity to revise your request. This is
called the ‘request consultation process’ as set out under section 24AB of the FOI
Act. We are seeking your response by
5 November 2024.
Practical refusal reason
The practical refusal reason is that the work involved in processing the request would
substantially and unreasonably divert the resources of the ACCC from its other
operations.
Following consultation with the relevant line area, I am satisfied that your request as
it currently stands would capture approximately:
• 38 documents
• 148 pages of material
Your request would also likely require consultation with approximately 36 third
parties.
Over 5 hours of staff time would be required to draw together the relevant
documents.
Over 84 hours of staff time would be required to process your request. This includes
the examination of documents, consultation, copying of documents and preparation
of decision.
To place the estimate above in context, if one person were dedicated to processing
your FOI request, working 5 days a week, the person would require over 2 weeks to
complete your request. Due to the above and the amount of FOI requests currently
on hand at the ACCC, processing your request would be a substantial diversion of
the ACCC’s resources.
What should you do
I am the ACCC officer to contact to try to remove the ground for refusal. Please email
me at
xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx to arrange a time to discuss your request. Alternatively, you
can call me on (02) 6243 1244 and leave a message for me to call you. I am happy
to provide you with reasonable further information to assist you in revising your
request in such a way that removes the practical refusal ground.
I strongly encourage you to contact me before submitting a revised request. Once
you submit a revised request, the request consultation process ends and we wil
make a decision regarding whether the practical refusal ground stil exists based on
the terms of your revised request.
It would assist if you were able to identify the specific documents you are after, or
clarify what information you are seeking. To possibly remove the practical refusal
ground, you could consider:
• Excluding all details of third parties. We note that you have excluded personal
information from the scope of your request, however there are stil a large
number of other third parties that we may be required to consult. This is
because there may be instances where the scope of an FOI applicant’s
request relates to other third parties.
• Whether you would be wil ing to receive this information in a table format with
the following headings:
Date of
Total
If applicable, the
If applicable, If applicable, the
charges
charges
date any
the outcome
date of any
notice
amount
subsequent
of the
subsequent
decisions regarding decision
decisions
charges fol owing
regarding
applicant contention
charges
following
internal or
external review.
DATE
$x.xx
DATE
For example,
DATE
Fee waiver
granted
When to respond by
You have 14 days from the date of this notice (i.e. by
5 November 2024) to either:
• withdraw the request
• make a revised request
• advise that you do not wish to revise the request.
If you do not respond in one of these ways within 14 days, your request is taken to be
withdrawn. If you indicate you do not wish to revise your request, I wil decide
whether to refuse the request on resource grounds under s.24.
If you need more time to respond, please contact me within the 14 day period (i.e. by
5 November 2024) to discuss your need for an extension of time.
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During this period of consultation, the statutory timeframe for the processing of your
request is on hold.
I have attached an extract from the FOI Act for your information (Attachment A).
Yours sincerely
Rebecca Fenech
FOI Manager
Specialist Advice and Services Division
Sent by email 22/10/2024
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Attachment A
Extract of s.24 of the Freedom of Information Act
Section 24
24 Power to refuse request - diversion of resources etc.
(1) If an agency or Minister is satisfied, when dealing with a request for a document,
that a practical refusal reason exists in relation to the request (see section 24AA), the
agency or Minister:
(a) must undertake a request consultation process (see section 24AB); and
(b) if, after the request consultation process, the agency or Minister is
satisfied that the practical refusal reason stil exists—the agency or Minister
may refuse to give access to the document in accordance with the request.
(2) For the purposes of this section, the agency or Minister may treat 2 or more
requests as a single request if the agency or Minister is satisfied that:
(a) the requests relate to the same document or documents; or
(b) the requests relate to documents, the subject matter of which is
substantially the same.
24A Requests may be refused if documents cannot be found, do not exist or
have not been received
Document lost or non-existent
(1) An agency or Minister may refuse a request for access to a document if:
(a) all reasonable steps have been taken to find the document; and
(b) the agency or Minister is satisfied that the document:
(i) is in the agency’s or Minister’s possession but cannot be found; or
(ii) does not exist.
Document not received as required by contract
(2) An agency may refuse a request for access to a document if:
(a) in order to comply with section 6C, the agency has taken contractual
measures to ensure that it receives the document; and
(b) the agency has not received the document; and
(c) the agency has taken all reasonable steps to receive the document in
accordance with those contractual measures.
24AA When does a practical refusal reason exist?
(1) For the purposes of section 24, a
practical refusal reason exists in relation to a
request for
a document if either (or both) of the following applies:
(a) the work involved in processing the
request:
(i) in the case of
an agency--would substantially and unreasonably divert
the resources of t
he agency from its other operations; or
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(ii) in the case of a Minister--would substantially and unreasonably
interfere with the performance of the Minister's functions;
(b) t
he request does not satisfy the requirement in paragraph 15(2)(b)
(identification of
documents).
(2) Subject to subsection (3), but without limiting the matters to which t
he agency or
Minister may have regard, in deciding whether
a practical refusal reason exists, the
agency or Minister must have regard to the resources that would have to be used for
the following:
(a) identifying, locating or col ating t
he documents within the filing system of
t
he agency, or the office of the Minister;
(b) deciding whether to grant, refuse or defer access to a
document to which
t
he request relates, or to grant access to
an edited copy of such a
document, including resources that would have to be used for:
(i) examining the
document; or
(ii) consulting with any person or body in relation to the
request;
(c) making a copy, or an
edited copy, of the
document;
(d) notifying any interim or final decision on the
request. (3) In deciding whether
a practical refusal reason exists, an
agency or Minister must
not have regard to:
(a) any reasons that t
he applicant gives for
requesting access; or
(b) t
he agency's or Minister's belief as to what the
applicant's reasons are for
requesting access; or
(c) any maximum amount, specified in the regulations, payable as a charge
for processi
ng a request of that kind.
24AB What is a request consultation process?
(1) This section sets out what is
a request consultation process for the purposes
of section 24.
Requirement to notify (2) The
agency or Minister must give t
he applicant a writ en notice stating the
following:
(a) an intention to refuse access to
a document in accordance with a
request;
(b) th
e practical refusal reason;
(c) the name of a
n officer of t
he agency or member of staff of the Minister
(the
contact person ) with whom the
applicant may consult during a period;
(d) details of how t
he applicant may contact the contact person;
(e) that the period (the
consultation period ) during which the
applicant
may consult with the contact person is 14 days after the day the
applicant is
given the notice.
Assistance to revise request (3) If the
applicant contacts the contact person during the consultation period in
accordance with the notice, t
he agency or Minister must take reasonable steps to
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assist t
he applicant to revise th
e request so that t
he practical refusal reason no
longer exists.
(4) For the purposes of subsection (3),
reasonable steps includes the fol owing:
(a) giving t
he applicant a reasonable opportunity to consult with the contact
person;
(b) providing the
applicant with any information that would assist the
applicant to revise th
e request.
Extension of consultation period (5) The contact person may, with t
he applicant's agreement, extend the consultation
period by written notice to the
applicant. Outcome of request consultation process (6) The
applicant must, before the end of the consultation period, do one of the
following, by writ en notice to the
agency or Minister:
(a) withdraw t
he request; (b) make a revis
ed request; (c) indicate that t
he applicant does not wish to revise the
request. (7) The
request is taken to have been withdrawn under subsection (6) at the end of
the consultation period if:
(a) t
he applicant does not consult the contact person during the consultation
period in accordance with the notice; or
(b) t
he applicant does not do one of the things mentioned in subsection (6)
before the end of the consultation period.
Consultation period to be disregarded in calculating processing period (8) The period starting on the day an
applicant is given a notice under subsection (2)
and ending on the day th
e applicant does one of the things mentioned in
paragraph (6)(b) or (c) is to be disregarded in working out the 30 day period
mentioned in paragraph 15(5)(b).
Note: Paragraph 15(5)(b) requires that an
agency or Minister take all reasonable
steps to notify
an applicant of a decision on the
applicant's request within 30 days
after t
he request is made.
No more than one request consultation process required (9) To avoid doubt, this section only obliges the
agency or Minister to undertake a
request consultation process once for any particular
request.
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Document Outline
