Published on Office of the Information Commissioner Queensland (https://www.oic.qld.gov.au)

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Christmas Update

November 24, 2022 - 12:02pm

OIC confirms that only notified public holidays do not count when calculating due dates. For the 2022/2023 Christmas/New Year period, the following days are public holidays* for the Right to Information Act 2009 (RTI Act) and the Information Privacy Act 2009 (IP Act):

  • Christmas Day Public Holiday – Tuesday, 27 December 2022**
  • Boxing Day Public Holiday – Monday, 26 December 2022
  • New Year’s Day Public Holiday- Monday, 2 January 2023**

All other weekdays in this period, besides those listed above, are business days and must be counted when calculating due dates, even if your agency is closed.

Agencies and Ministers need to ensure that any due dates which fall during this period are carefully calculated. In some circumstances it may be necessary to contact applicants and ask for a further specified period before a deemed decision is taken to have been made.

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*The Holidays Act 1983 also provides for a public holiday on December 24th from 6:00 pm to midnight, but it does not apply when calculating timeframes under the RTI or IP Act. It only applies for the purposes of calculating entitlements under specified industrial and employment legislation.

**The Holidays Act 1983 provides for an extra public holiday to be added when Christmas Day, Boxing Day, or New Year's Day falls on a weekend.