Australian Capital Territory Consolidated Acts Australian Capital Territory Consolidated Acts(1) Nothing in this Act shall be taken to require an agency or Minister to give information as to the existence or non-existence of a document where that information, if included in a document of an agency, would cause the lastmentioned document to be an exempt document under section 34, section 37 (1) or section 37A.
(2) Where a request relates to a document that is, or if it existed would be, of a kind referred to in subsection (1), the agency or Minister dealing with the request may give notice in writing to the applicant that the agency or the Minister, as the case may be, neither confirms nor denies the existence, as a document of the agency, of such a document but that, assuming the existence of such a document, it would be an exempt document under section 34, section 37 (1) or section 37A and, where such a notice is given—
(a) section 25 applies as if the decision to give such a notice were a decision referred to in that section; and
(b) the decision shall, for part 7, be taken to be a decision refusing to grant access to the document in accordance with the request for the reason that the document would, if it existed, be an exempt document under section 34 or 37 (1).