Commonwealth Numbered Acts

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 1982 No. 3 of 1982 - SECT 30

30. (1) An applicant may make application, in writing, to the agency to which
or the Minister to whom he made a request seeking the total or partial
remission of any charge paid by him, or notified to him as being a charge that
he is liable to pay, in respect of that request or in respect of the provision
of access to a document to which the request relates.

(2) Where application is made to an agency or the Minister under sub-section
(1), the agency or Minister -

   (a)  may remit the charge to which the application relates in whole or in
part; and

   (b)  shall take all reasonable steps to enable the applicant to be notified
of a decision on the application as soon as practicable but in any case
not later than 28 days after the day on which the application was
received by or on behalf of the agency or Minister.

(3) Without limiting the matters which the agency or Minister may take into
account for the purpose of determining whether or not to remit a charge under
sub-section (2), the agency or Minister shall take into account -

   (a)  whether the payment of the charge or of any part of the charge would
cause financial hardship to the applicant;

   (b)  whether the document to which the applicant seeks access relates to
        the
personal affairs of the applicant; and

   (c)  whether the giving of access is in the general public interest or in
        the
interest of a substantial section of the public.

(4) Where -

   (a)  an application has been made to an agency or Minister under
sub-section

(1) ;

   (b)  the period of 28 days has elapsed since the day on which the
        application
was received by or on behalf of the agency or Minister; and

   (c)  notice of a decision on the application has not been received by the
applicant, the principal officer of the agency, or the Minister, as the case
requires, shall, for all purposes of this Act, be deemed to have made, on the
last day of that period, a decision refusing to make the total or partial
remission of the charge to which the application relates that was sought in
that application.
(5) In this section, "charge" means a charge that the applicant is notified
under section 29 that he is liable to pay in respect of a request for access
to a document or in respect of the provision of access to a document.