The processing period is the time in which an applicant must be given a written notice of a reviewable decision. It is 25 business days long and begins when an agency receives an access application (or, under the IP Act, an amendment application), even if the application does not meet all legislative requirements.
If the application does not meet all legislative requirements, ie if it is defective, either the applicant must rectify the defect or the agency must give the applicant a reviewable decision before the end of the processing period. If neither of these happen, the agency will be deemed to have refused access to all documents applied for under section 46 of the RTI Act or section 66 of the IP Act.
If the applicant rectifies the application the processing period will begin again, so the agency can process the application, eg search for and consider documents and make a considered decision, because the application is taken to have been re-presented to the agency.
The RTI Act provides additional time periods for other actions that occur during the processing of the application, for example the charges estimate notice process. These times do not count as part of the processing period and effectively pause it. Where an application was defective, these should only occur during the recommenced processing period, after any defects in the application were rectified and the application was taken to have been re-presented to the agency.
Before the processing period ends, the Act allows a decision maker to request extra time to consider an application. This is called the further specified period. It is also not part of the processing period, but only begins when the processing period has expired.
Refer to these guidelines for guidance on applying this section:
Last updated: March 28, 2023