Pharmaceutical Patents Review Final Report
Brendan Molloy made this Freedom of Information request to IP Australia
This request has been closed to new correspondence from the public body. Contact us if you think it ought be re-opened.
Dear IP Australia,
I hereby request, under the Freedom of Information Act (1982), copies of the following documents:
a) The Pharmaceutical Patents Review Final Report.
I also make the application that all costs for the processing of this request be waived on the grounds that the release of this information is in the public interest, will enhance the transparency of the process and the public debate surrounding potential legislative changes.
--
Regards,
Brendan Molloy
Councillor
Pirate Party Australia
Dear Mr Molloy,
IP Australia is implementing a range of changes to the customer interaction channels with a view to improving the ease with which you can lodge and have your requests actioned with the highest possible quality.
In October 2013, IP Australia announced decommissioning of the email channel as an approved means for service request submissions. These changes took place on the 15th of February 2014.
You have attempted to submit a service request to IP Australia via email. As outlined above, this is no longer an approved means for service request submissions. Given this change, your request will not be actioned or marked as received. Please re-submit your request using an approved means as outlined in the Electronic Business Rules.
If you have a general enquiry, please submit your enquiry using the online enquiry form.
If you would like to submit a service request, please use eServices by visiting www.ipaustralia.gov.au.
If you would like further information, please contact our Customer Centre on 1300 651 010.
Kind regards,
Daniel Rehwinkel
Freedom of Information Officer
Information Access Unit
Trade Mark and Design Administration
IP Australia
P + 61 1300 65 10 10
A 47 Bowes Street, Phillip ACT 2606
PO Box 200, Woden ACT Australia 2606
Visit us at http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au
Dear Mr Rehwinkel,
I refer you to Part 3 of the FOI guidelines as can be found on the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner's website:
http://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-inform...
I refer you specifically to: 3.28, 3.31 and especially 3.33.
It isn't a stretch of logic for a reasonable person to determine that by requiring me to sign up to a web portal that requires agreeing to a set of terms and conditions just to make an FOI request is hindering access. I note that previously making a request by email was not an issue for this department.
The eServices portal provided is not a suitable mechanism for making a freedom of information request. It requires inputting information that is not required for making a freedom of information request, such as your living address and whether or not you have an ABN, and also requires a phone number.
Upon calling your helpful call centre, I was informed that the only way I can now make a request is either by snail mail, fax (who still owns a fax?) or through the eServices portal.
This makes community assistance portals such as Right To Know (http://www.righttoknow.org.au), the website used to make this request, impossible to use with your department, while most other departments do not have any issue with accepting requests by email. I suppose it's worth noting for posterity too that it is 2014, not 1984.
I will be making a complaint to the OAIC regarding the actions of your department in hindering access to information through the FOI Act.
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Regards,
Brendan Molloy
Councillor
Pirate Party Australia
Brendan Molloy left an annotation ()
I have made a request through their horrid eServices portal. I would not recommend it at this stage.
As I am an admin, I requested that all correspondence comes through the unique email address created for this request on Right to Know, so the rest of the request should still be handled on this system. :)
Dear Mr Molloy
Request for access under the FOI Act – Pharmaceutical Patents Review Final
Report
I refer to your application under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI
Act) regarding the Pharmaceutical Patents Review Final Report.
Please find attached an acknowledgement letter in relation to your
request.
With regards
Mandy Edlington
Principal Legal Counsel
Office of Legal Counsel
IP Australia
[1]cid:image002.jpg@01CEC119.39BA31D0
P + 61 2 6283 7993 ?nbsp; M 0481 013 369 ?nbsp; E
[2]mandy.edlington@ ipaustralia.gov.au
A Discovery House, 47 Bowes Street, Phillip ACT 2606 ? PO Box 200,
Woden ACT 2606
Visit us at [3]http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au
P Please consider the environment before printing this email
References
Visible links
2. mailto:mandy.edlington@%20ipaustralia.gov.au
3. http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/
Dear Mr Molloy
Request for access under the FOI Act – Pharmaceutical Patents Review Final
Report
I refer to your application under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI
Act) regarding the Pharmaceutical Patents Review Final Report.
Please find attached correspondence in relation to your request.
With regards
Mandy Edlington
Principal Legal Counsel
Office of Legal Counsel
IP Australia
[1]cid:image002.jpg@01CEC119.39BA31D0
P + 61 2 6283 7993 │ M 0481 013 369 │ E [2]mandy.edlington@
ipaustralia.gov.au
A 47 Bowes Street, Phillip ACT 2606 │ PO Box 200, Woden ACT 2606
Visit us at [3]http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au
P Please consider the environment before printing this email
References
Visible links
2. mailto:mandy.edlington@%20ipaustralia.gov.au
3. http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/
Brendan Molloy left an annotation ()
They released it due to public pressure:
http://www.ipaustralia.gov.au/pdfs/2013-...
Henare Degan left an annotation ()
This request was mentioned in, "The High Price of Drug Patents: Australia, Patent Law, Pharmaceutical Drugs and the Trans-Pacific Partnership": http://www.equilibri.net/nuovo/articolo/...
Ben Fairless left an annotation ()
What the hell? Reading s15(2) of the Act, there appears to be no obligation on you to send the request via their E-Services Portal.
The act only requires that the request be in writing, state it is a request under the act, give sufficent details of the document you are seeking and provide an address to receive notices. I'm sure there is a law somewhere which says that email = writing!
I think I might make an FOI request for the documents related to this decision ;)