FOIPP Act Policy and Procedures Manual

Section 7 excludes certain periods from the calculation of the 30 days within which the public body must respond to a request for information and permits an extension of that 30 day period.

Example

• section 7 excludes the period from the date when the head requests under section 43 that the commissioner permit the head to disregard the request for information until the commissioner makes a decision;
   
• section 7 excludes the period after the head of a public body gives an applicant a written estimate of the fees for services related to the request, until the applicant agrees to pay the fees required in the estimate and pays the deposit, if any is required;
   
• the 30 day period does not apply if the time limit is extended under section 10 of the Act or the request is transferred to another body under section 11.

POLICY

1. Public bodies will respond to an access request made under section 5 no later than 30 days from receipt unless that public body finds it necessary to extend the time limit in accordance with the conditions stated in section 7.
   
   

2. Public bodies will transfer a request made under section 5 within 20 days from receipt of the request if they determine that the records are in the custody of or under the control of another public body.  See section 11 (Transferring a request).
   
   

3. If the public body cannot respond to a request within the 30 days because more detail is required, it may extend the time limit for responding under paragraph 10(1)(a).

PROCEDURE

1. Respond within the time limit in accordance with the requirements of section 8 (Contents of response) after processing the request.

INTERPRETATION

Interpretation Note 1:

Public bodies make every effort to respond as quickly as possible to requests for information held by government.  Section 7 of the Act establishes a maximum time limit of 30 days for responding to a formal request and, in most cases, public bodies meet this deadline. The time limit of 30 days refers to working days and does not include holidays or Saturdays.

In some instances, however, because of the volume of records requested, the need for external consultations or other limited circumstances, a public body may require more than 30 days to satisfy the applicant's needs. The Act specifies the terms and conditions of the limited extensions to the time limit for responding.

Subsection 25(5) of the Interpretation Act clarifies that the calculation of this time limit excludes the day the request is received and includes the day on which the public body responds to the request.  See Calculation of Time.  If the 30th day falls on a statutory holiday or a day on which the office is not open during regular business hours, the public body responds on the next working day.

Example

• A request is received on Wednesday November 2, 2005. November 3 is day 1 in the calculation of 30 days; therefore, the request is calculated as due on Thursday, December 15, 2005.  November 11 is a statutory holiday on which the office is not open, and is, therefore, not included in the 30 days response time.

Section 7 allows public bodies to stop working on FOI requests when waiting for a ruling from the Information and Privacy Commissioner under section 43 (on whether it can ignore a high volume requester), 52(1) (review of fee estimate or fee waiver decision), or 52(2) (third party request for review). It also allows the same consideration to the Commissioner’s office when it must respond as a public body.

Section 7 ties the time allowances under section 23 – third party notification - into the thirty-day timeline set in this section.

SECTIONAL INDEX OF COMMISSIONER'S ORDERS

For orders organized by the Act's section numbers, Click here.