FOI charges letters
Dear Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation,
I request access to the following documents under the Freedom of Information Act 1982:
1. The most recent 30 notices of charges issued to FOI applicants.
For each of these 30 requests, if applicable, please also provide:
2. Any subsequent decisions regarding charges following applicant contention.
3. Any subsequent decisions regarding charges following internal or external review.
Please exclude the following information:
i) Personal information of FOI applicants.
Yours faithfully,
CR
Our ref: FOI2024/66
Thank you for your email to CSIRO’s Freedom of Information Team. Your
email has been received and will be actioned as appropriate.
If an FOI request is valid, a decision in response to the request is due
30 days after the request is received by CSIRO on 31 October 2024. This
timeframe can be extended under the FOI Act including where third-party
consultation is required. CSIRO notifies applicants when an extension is
required.
If an FOI request is not valid, the 30-day timeframe does not commence.
CSIRO contacts applicants to advise them of invalidity within 21 days of
receipt of the application.
Charges may be imposed for processing your request pursuant to section 29
of the FOI Act. These charges are calculated by reference to the time
spent processing a request, including time spent searching and retrieving
relevant documents, preparing any documents for release, consulting and
decision- making. In the event CSIRO decides that you are liable to pay a
charge for the processing of your request, you will be notified of a
preliminary charges assessment and you will have the opportunity to
contend that the charge should not be imposed or should be reduced.
We would be grateful if you could please confirm via reply email, whether
you prefer documents from a specific timeframe since CSIRO issues very few
notices of charges to the FOI applicants every year.
More information about accessing information held by CSIRO, including via
freedom of information, can be found at [1]Access to information - CSIRO.
Kind regards
CSIRO’s FOI Team
Dear CSIRO FOI Team,
Thank you for acknowledging my request.
I note from the Agency FOI 2022-23 dataset on data.gov.au that your agency issued charges on 8 occasions during the 2022-23 financial year.
I am open to refining the scope of my request. Could you please advise how many charge notices your agency has issued between 1 July 2023 and 1 October 2024?
Yours sincerely,
CR
Dear CR,
Thank you for your email modifying the scope of your request from:
1. The most recent 30 notices of charges issued to FOI applicants.
For each of these 30 requests, if applicable, please also provide:
2. Any subsequent decisions regarding charges following applicant contention.
3. Any subsequent decisions regarding charges following internal or external review.
to:
" Advise on how many charge notices your agency has issued between 1 July 2023 and 1 October 2024?"
We will action your request accordingly.
Kind regards,
CSIRO’s FOI Team
Dear CSIRO FOI Team,
I accept your recall request for your previous email.
I want to clarify that I have not revised my FOI request. However, as mentioned, I am open to refining the scope of my request based on your advice.
To assist with this, could you please confirm how many charge notices your agency has issued between 1 July 2023 and 1 October 2024?
I appreciate your assistance and look forward to your response.
Yours sincerely,
CR
Dear CR,
Thank you for the clarification on the FOI request. CSIRO confirms issuing 2 charge notices between the period 1 July 2023 to 1 October 2024.
To assist with processing the FOI request we look forward to your response on or before Friday, 11 October 2024 regarding the scope of the request.
More information about accessing information held by CSIRO, including via freedom of information, can be found at Access to information - CSIRO.
Kind regards
CSIRO’s FOI Team
Dear CSIRO FOI Team,
Thank you for your confirmation.
Would it be feasible for your department to process a reduced scope of 10 letters—comprising the 8 identified in the 2022-23 FOI statistics dataset, along with the 2 charge notices issued since then?
Yours sincerely,
CR
Dear FOI Officer,
I am writing to amend the scope of my FOI request to assist with its processing.
As I wish to access only recent charge decisions, I have introduced a time frame and clarified the exclusions. I confirm the revised scope of my request as follows:
1. The most recent 30 notices of charges issued to FOI applicants.
For each of these 30 requests, if applicable, please also provide:
2. Any subsequent decisions regarding charges following applicant contention.
3. Any subsequent decisions regarding charges following internal or external review.
The time period for my request is from 1 July 2022 to 1 October 2024.
Please exclude the following information:
i) Personal information of FOI applicants, including supporting evidence or details of personal circumstances in a financial hardship contention.
ii) Emails that attached the charges notices/decision letters.
Please feel free to contact me if you require any clarification or have further questions regarding this request.
Yours sincerely,
CR
Dear CR,
We acknowledge the receipt of your email. Thanks for confirming the revised scope of the FOI request.
Kind regards
CSIRO's FOI Team
Dear FOI Team,
I wish to provide clarification as to the scope of my request.
If a preliminary charge notice or decision of a charge is sent via the body of an email (as opposed to an email attachment) I wish to access a copy of that email, as well as the applicant's contention reasons.
Yours sincerely,
CR