Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Freedom of Information Act 1982 - SECT 7

PART II PUBLICATION OF CERTAIN DOCUMENTS AND INFORMATION

Publication of information concerning functions etc. of agencies

7. Publication of information concerning functions etc. of agencies



(1) The responsible Minister of an agency, other than a council, shall-



   (a)  cause to be published as soon as practicable after the commencement of
        this Part in a form approved by the Minister administering this Act-

   (i)  a statement setting out particulars of the organization 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 particulars of any arrangement that
        exists for consultation with, or representation by, bodies and persons
        outside the government administration in relation to the formulation
        of policy in, or the administration of, the agency;

   (ii) a statement of the categories of documents that are maintained in the
        possession of the agency;

   (iii) a statement of the material that has been prepared by the agency
        under this Part for publication or for inspection by members of the
        public, and the places at which a person may inspect or obtain that
        material;

   (iv) a statement listing the literature available by way of subscription
        services or free mailing lists;

   (v)  a statement of the procedure to be followed by a person when a request
        for access to a document is made to the agency;

   (vi) a statement designating by name the officer or officers responsible
        within each agency for the initial receipt of, and action upon,
        requests for access to a document;

   (vii) a statement listing all boards, councils, committees and other bodies
        constituted by two or more persons, that are a part of, or that have
        been established for the purpose of advising, the agency, and whose
        meetings are open to the public, or the minutes of whose meetings are
        available for public inspection; and

   (viii) if the agency maintains a library or reading room that is available
        for public use-a statement of that fact including details of the
        address and hours of opening of the library or reading room; and

   (b)  during the year commencing on 1 January next following the
        publication, in respect of an agency, of the statements under
        paragraph (a) that are the statements first published under that
        paragraph, and during each succeeding year, cause to be published
        statements bringing up to date the information contained in the
        previous statements.

(1A) Subsection (1) applies to an agency that is a council as if the reference
to the responsible Minister of an agency were a reference to the council.

(2) The approved forms under subsection (1) shall be appropriate for the
purposes of assisting members of the public to exercise effectively their
rights under this Act.

(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.

(4) The information to be published in accordance with this section by an
agency, that is a department or prescribed agency, must be published by
including it-

   (a)  in the annual report of the agency to the responsible Minister of the
        agency; or

   (b)  if there is no such annual report-in the annual report of the
        department, or a department administered, or part of which is
        administered, by the responsible Minister of the agency.

(4A) Subsection (1) applies to an agency that becomes an agency on or after
the commencement of section 5 of the Freedom of Information (Amendment) Act
1993 as if references in that subsection to the commencement of this Part were
references to the day on which that agency became an agency.

(4AA) The information to be published in accordance with this section by an
agency that is a council must be published-

   (a)  by including it in the annual report of the council under the
        Local Government Act 1989; or

   (b)  separately, as soon as practicable after the commencement of section
        17 of the Freedom of Information (Amendment) Act 1993 and at intervals
        of not less than 12 months.

(5) Subject to subsection (6) of this section, section 15 shall not be read so
as to require the responsible Minister of an agency to include in a statement
of the categories of documents prepared under subsection (1)(a)(ii)
information relating to any document in the custody of the Public Record
Office of Victoria.

(6) The statement of the categories of documents that are maintained in the
possession of the Public Record Office of Victoria prepared under subsection
(1)(a)(ii) by the Minister administering the Public Records Act 1973 shall
include a statement of the categories of all documents that are maintained in
the custody of the Public Record Office of Victoria, including those documents
to which section 15 applies.

(7) The prescribed form of publication of the statement of the categories of
documents prepared under subsection (1)(a)(ii) may be such as to allow for
categories of documents that are maintained in common by more than one agency
to be listed in a single statement prepared under subsection (1)(a)(ii) by the
Minister administering the Public Records Act 1973.

(8) For the purposes of this section, "statement of the categories of
documents prepared under subsection (1)(a)(ii)" includes statements prepared
under subsection (1)(b).