Commonwealth Numbered Acts

Archives Act 1983 No. 79 of 1983 - SECT 33

33. (1) For the purposes of this Act, a Commonwealth record is an exempt
record if it contains information or matter of any of the following kinds:

   (a)  information or matter the disclosure of which under this Act could
        reasonably be expected to cause damage to the security, defence or
        international relations of the Commonwealth;

   (b)  information or matter communicated in confidence by or on behalf of a
        foreign government, an authority of a foreign government or an
        international organization to the Government of the Commonwealth, to
        an authority of the Commonwealth or to a person receiving the
        communication on behalf of the Commonwealth or of an
        authority of the Commonwealth, being information or matter the
        disclosure of which under this Act would constitute a breach of that
        confidence;

   (c)  information or matter the disclosure of which under this Act would
        have a substantial adverse effect on the financial or property
        interests of the Commonwealth or of a Commonwealth institution and
        would not, on balance, be in the public interest;

   (d)  information or matter the disclosure of which under this Act would
        constitute a breach of confidence;

   (e)  information or matter the disclosure of which under this Act would, or
        could reasonably be expected to-

        (i)    prejudice the conduct of an investigation of a breach, or
               possible breach, of the law, or a failure, or possible failure,
               to comply with a law relating to taxation or prejudice the
               enforcement or proper administration of the law in a particular
               instance;

        (ii)   disclose, or enable a person to ascertain, the existence or
               identity of a confidential source of information in relation to
               the enforcement or administration of the law; or

        (iii)  endanger the life or physical safety of any person;

   (f)  information or matter the disclosure of which under this Act would, or
        could reasonably be expected to-

        (i)    prejudice the fair trial of a person or the impartial
               adjudication of a particular case;

        (ii)   disclose lawful methods or procedures for preventing,
               detecting, investigating, or dealing with matters arising out
               of, breaches or evasions of the law the disclosure of which
               would, or would be reasonably likely to, prejudice the
               effectiveness of those methods or procedures; or

        (iii)  prejudice the maintenance or enforcement of lawful methods for
               the protection of public safety;

   (g)  information or matter the disclosure of which under this Act would
        involve the unreasonable disclosure of information relating to the
        personal affairs of any person (including a deceased person);

   (h)  information or matter relating to trade secrets, or any other
        information or matter having a commercial value that would be, or
        could reasonably be expected to be, destroyed or diminished if the
        information or matter were disclosed;

   (j)  information or matter (other than information or matter referred to in
        paragraph (h)) concerning a person in respect of his business or
        professional affairs or concerning the business, commercial or
        financial affairs of an organization or undertaking, being information
        or matter the disclosure of which would, or could reasonably be
        expected to, unreasonably affect that person adversely in respect of
        his lawful business or professional affairs or that organization or
        undertaking in respect of its lawful business, commercial or financial
        affairs.

(2) For the purposes of this Act, a Commonwealth record is an exempt record if
it is of such a nature that-

   (a)  it would be privileged from production in legal proceedings on the
        ground of legal professional privilege; and

   (b)  disclosure of the record would be contrary to the public interest.

(3) For the purposes of this Act, a Commonwealth record is an exempt record
if-

   (a)  it contains information or matter-

        (i)    that relates to the personal affairs, or the business or
               professional affairs, of any person (including a deceased
               person); or

        (ii)   that relates to the business, commercial or financial affairs
               of an organization or undertaking; and

   (b)  there is in force a law relating to taxation that applies specifically
        to information or matter of that kind and prohibits persons referred
        to in that law from disclosing information or matter of that kind,
        whether the prohibition is absolute or is subject to exceptions or
        qualifications.

(4) In paragraphs (1) (e) and (f) and sub-section (3), ''law'' means law of
the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory.

(5) A reference in this section to an undertaking includes a reference to an
undertaking that is carried on by, or by an authority of, the Commonwealth, a
State or the Northern Territory or by a local government authority.