Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Freedom of Information Act 1982 - SECT 34

Documents relating to trade secrets etc.

34. Documents relating to trade secrets etc.



(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.

(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.

(3) Prior to making a determination under subsection (1) as to whether the
disclosure of information would expose an undertaking unreasonably to
disadvantage an agency or Minister shall notify the undertaking which has
supplied the relevant document or documents that the agency or Minister has
received a request for access to the document and shall-

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

   (b)  notify the undertaking where the agency after consultation has decided
        to disclose the document and in such a case notify the undertaking of
        the right to make an application for review of the decision provided
        by section 50(2)(e).

(4) A document is an exempt document if-

   (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.