Australian Capital Territory Consolidated Acts

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1989 - SECT 7

    (1)     The responsible Minister of an agency shall—

        (a)     cause to be published, as soon as practicable after the agency comes into existence but no later than 12 months after the agency came into existence—

              (i)     a statement setting out particulars of the organisation and functions of the agency, indicating, as far as practicable, the decision-making powers and other powers affecting members of the public that are involved in those functions; and

              (ii)     a statement setting out particulars of any arrangements that exist for bodies or persons outside the Executive or agencies to participate, either through consultative procedures, the making of representations or otherwise, in the formulation of policy by the agency, or in the administration by the agency of any enactment or scheme; and

              (iii)     a statement of the categories of documents that are maintained in the possession of the agency, being a statement that sets out, as separate categories of documents, categories of such documents (if any) as are referred to in section 11 (1) and categories of other documents (if any) as are customarily made available to the public, otherwise than under this Act, free of charge upon request; and

              (iv)     a statement of particulars of the facilities (if any) provided by the agency for enabling members of the public to obtain physical access to the documents of the agency; and

              (v)     a statement of any information that needs to be available to the public concerning particular procedures of the agency in relation to part 3, and particulars of the officer to whom, and the place at which, initial inquiries concerning access to documents may be directed; and

        (b)     during the year commencing on 1 January next following the publication, in respect of the agency, of the statement under paragraph (a) (i), (ii), (iii), (iv) or (v) that is the first statement published under that subparagraph, and during each succeeding year, cause to be published statements bringing up-to-date the information contained in the statement previously published under that subparagraph.

Note     If a form is approved under s 81 (Approved forms) for a statement under this section, the form must be used.

    (2)     The information to be published under this section must be published by including it—

        (a)     in a report prepared by the agency under the Annual Reports (Government Agencies) Act 2004 ; or

        (b)     if the agency is not required to prepare a report mentioned in paragraph (a)—in the annual report to which the affairs of the agency relate.

    (3)     Nothing in this section requires the publication of information that is of such a nature that its inclusion in a document of an agency would cause that document to be an exempt document.