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Richardson and Department of Natural Resources and Mines

Application number:
2004 F0644
Decision date:
Friday, Apr 29, 2005

Richardson and Department of Natural Resources and Mines
 (2004 F0644, 29 April 2005) 

Charges – whether applicable and properly calculated 

The applicant sought review of the charges imposed by the Department for dealing with her FOI access application, on the basis that she had not been provided with all the documents she expected to receive, and that the Department had a contract with her which it had breached. 

Assistant Commissioner Barker noted that charges payable in respect of an access application under the FOI Act are governed by statutory provisions (s.29(2) of the FOI Act, and s.8(1) of the Schedule to the FOI Regulation) not contract law, and concepts obtained from contract law are essentially irrelevant.  AC Barker found that the activities for which the Department had charged fell within the category of chargeable activities specified in item 1 of the Schedule to the FOI Regulation, and that the amount requested by the Department had been calculated correctly.