20321ab7_nformation_Commissioner___OAIC_reedom_of_Information_Act_1982_Issue_description
[FOI Act Part] Part III — Access to documents [FOI Act section] All notice provisions and extension of time provisions [Recommended action] The notice provisions and 'stop-the-clock' provisions in the Act should be consistently implemented. The extension of time provisions should be redrafted to make it clear that extensions are cumulative: the time that is extended is the initial period as extended (if applicable). [Issue description] 
The notice provisions and 'stop-the-clock' provisions are inconsistently implemented. At various points during the processing of a request, the Act provides different triggers for the statutory time period to start or stop. Examples include that an agency must take reasonable steps to notify the applicant before the clock stops; that the clock stops when notice is given to the applicant; and that the clock starts the day after a request is received. Furthermore, the extension of time provisions are inconsistently drafted. For example, s 15AA provides for the extension of 'the period referred to in paragraph 15(5)(b) for dealing with a request, or that period as extended' under two (but not all) of the extension provisions. However, s 15(8) provides for the extension of 'the period referred to in paragraph 15(5)(b)' but not that period as extended.
Review of freedom of information legislation| Office of the Australian Information Commissioner - OAIC
Issue description