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FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982 - SECT 34 Documents relating to trade secrets etc.

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982 - SECT 34

Documents relating to trade secrets etc.

S. 34(1) substituted by No. 57/1999 s. 7(1).

    (1)     A document is an exempt document if its disclosure under this Act would disclose information acquired by an agency or a Minister from a business, commercial or financial undertaking and the information relates to—

        (a)     trade secrets; or

        (b)     other matters of a business, commercial or financial nature and the disclosure of the information would be likely to expose the undertaking unreasonably to disadvantage.

S. 34(2) amended by No. 57/1999 s. 7(2).

    (2)     In deciding whether disclosure of information would expose an undertaking unreasonably to disadvantage, for the purposes of paragraph (b) of subsection (1), an agency or Minister may take account of any of the following considerations—

        (a)     whether the information is generally available to competitors of the undertaking;

        (b)     whether the information would be exempt matter if it were generated by an agency or a Minister;

        (c)     whether the information could be disclosed without causing substantial harm to the competitive position of the undertaking; and

        (d)     whether there are any considerations in the public interest in favour of disclosure which outweigh considerations of competitive disadvantage to the undertaking, for instance, the public interest in evaluating aspects of government regulation of corporate practices or environmental controls—

and of any other consideration or considerations which in the opinion of the agency or Minister is or are relevant.

S. 34(3) amended by Nos 10155 s. 67(1)(c), 57/1999 s. 7(3), 6/2012 s. 12(2), substituted by No. 20/2017 s. 18.

    (3)     An agency or Minister, in deciding whether the disclosure of information would expose an undertaking unreasonably to disadvantage, if practicable, must—

        (a)     notify the undertaking that the agency or Minister has received a request for access to the document; and

        (b)     seek the undertaking's view as to whether disclosure of the document should occur; and

        (c)     state that if the undertaking consents to disclosure of the document, or disclosure subject to deletion of information likely to expose the undertaking to disadvantage, the undertaking is not entitled to apply to the Tribunal for review of a decision to grant access to that document.

S. 34(3A) inserted by No. 20/2017 s. 18.

    (3A)     If the agency or Minister, after consultation, decides to disclose the document, the agency or Minister must notify the undertaking from which the document was acquired of the—

        (a)     decision to grant access to the document; and

        (b)     right to make an application for review of the decision provided by section 50(3A).

S. 34(3B) inserted by No. 20/2017 s. 18.

    (3B)     An agency or Minister is not required to notify an undertaking that has consented to disclosure of a document, or a document with deletions, of the decision to disclose that document or document with deletions (as the case requires).

    (4)     A document is an exempt document if—

S. 34(4)(a) amended by No. 57/1999 s. 7(4).

        (a)     it contains—

              (i)     a trade secret of an agency; or

              (ii)     in the case of an agency engaged in trade or commerce—information of a business, commercial or financial nature—

that would if disclosed under this Act be likely to expose the agency unreasonably to disadvantage;

        (b)     it contains the results of scientific or technical research undertaken by an officer of an agency, and—

              (i)     the research could lead to a patentable invention;

              (ii)     the disclosure of the results of an incomplete state under this Act would be reasonably likely to expose a business, commercial or financial undertaking unreasonably to disadvantage; or

              (iii)     the disclosure of the results before the completion of the research would be reasonably likely to expose the agency or the officer of the agency unreasonably to disadvantage; or

        (c)     it is an examination paper, a paper submitted by a student in the course of an examination, an examiner's report or similar document and the use or uses for which the document was prepared have not been completed.