Commonwealth Consolidated Regulations Commonwealth Consolidated Regulations(1) Where, at the time (in this subregulation referred to as the 'relevant time') that an agency or a Minister proposes to notify an applicant under section 29 of the Act that he is liable to pay a charge in respect of the request that he has made for access to a document, the agency or Minister has not taken any or all of the steps necessary to enable the agency or Minister to make a decision on the request, the agency or Minister may fix, as the amount of the charge, such amount as would be the amount ascertained in accordance with the Schedule in respect of the charge if, at the relevant time, all steps that would, in the opinion of the agency or Minister, be necessary to enable a decision to be made on the request had been taken by the agency or Minister.
(2) Where, at the time (in this subregulation referred to as the 'relevant time') that an agency or a Minister proposes to notify an applicant under section 29 of the Act that he is liable to pay a charge (other than a charge in relation to which subregulation (3) applies) in respect of the provision of access to a document, the agency or Minister has not taken any or all of the steps necessary to enable the applicant to be given access to the document, the agency or Minister may fix, as the amount of the charge, such amount as would be the amount ascertained in accordance with the Schedule in respect of the charge if, at the relevant time, all steps that are, or would, in the opinion of the agency or Minister, be, necessary to enable the applicant to be given access to the document had been taken by the agency or Minister.
(3) Where:
(a) access to a document is to be given to an applicant in the form of an opportunity to inspect the document under the supervision of an officer; and
(b) the relevant agency or the relevant Minister makes a decision that the applicant is liable to pay a charge in respect of the period during which the officer is to supervise the inspection;
the relevant agency or the relevant Minister may fix, as the amount of the charge, such amount as would be the amount ascertained in accordance with the Schedule in respect of the charge if:
(c) at the time that the decision is made, the applicant had availed himself of the opportunity so to inspect the document; and
(d) the period during which the officer supervised the inspection was such period as is determined by the agency or Minister to be the period reasonably required for the inspection.
(4) Where an agency or a Minister has, in accordance with subregulation (1), (2) or (3), fixed an amount in respect of a charge that an applicant is liable to pay, the applicant is, subject to regulation 10, liable to pay the charge in the amount so fixed.
(5) In subregulation (3), a reference, in relation to a document, to an opportunity to inspect the document shall, in relation to a document that is an article or thing from which sounds or visual images are capable of being produced, be read as a reference to the arrangements made for the applicant to hear or view those sounds or images and 'inspection' shall, in relation to such a document, be construed accordingly.