Australian Securities
and Investments Commission
Office address (inc courier deliveries):
Level 7, 120 Collins Street,
Melbourne VIC 3000
Mail address for Melbourne office:
GPO Box 9827,
Brisbane QLD 4001
29 June 2023
Tel: +61 1300 935 075
Fax: +61 1300 729 000
FOIBLE
www.asic.gov.au
By email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear FOIBLE,
Freedom of Information Request No. 116-2023
Request consultation process (s 24AB) due to existence of a practical refusal reason
I refer to your email received on 28 June 2023 in which you seek access to the following
under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (
FOI Act):
Dear Australian Securities and Investments Commission,
Please provide:
- Details of meetings held between representatives of ASIC and representatives of
Blockchain Australia since 1 July 2022 to the date of this application
- Briefing notes prepared for such meetings
- Correspondence and documents received by ASIC from Blockchain Australia since 1 July
2022 to the date of this application
Yours faithfully,
FOIBLE
I am an officer authorised under s 23(1) of the FOI Act to make decisions in relation to FOI
requests.
I advise that your request does not satisfy the requirement in s 15(2)(b) of the FOI Act to
provide such information concerning the documents as is reasonably necessary to enable
me to identify them. Section 15(2)(b) states that a request must ‘provide such information
concerning the document as is reasonably necessary to enable a responsible officer of the
agency to identify it’. This is called a ‘practical refusal reason’ under s 24AA(1)(b) of the FOI
Act. As s 15(2)(b) has not been met ASIC may, in accordance with s 24(1)(b) of the FOI Act,
refuse your request after undertaking a request consultation process.
On this basis, it is my intention to refuse access to your request. However, before I make a
final decision to do this, you have an opportunity to revise your request. This is called a
‘request consultation process’ as set out under s 24AB of the FOI Act.
Why I intend to refuse your request
Your request does not specify any subject matter, activity, or topic of the correspondence,
documents or meetings. I have consulted with various ASIC staff members to assist with
searching for relevant documents. These staff have advised me that they are uncertain how
to interpret your request and require further information to enable the identification of the
documents you are seeking. In particular, I am informed that there may be a range of topics
2
on which ASIC may be corresponding with Blockchain Australia, given it is a member of the
Digital Finance Advisory Panel (DFAP) -
Digital Finance Advisory Panel | ASIC. In view of the above, I invite you to provide further information about the types of documents
you may be seeking in relation to your request.
You have
14 days to respond to this notice in one of the ways set out below.
Request consultation process
You now have an opportunity to revise your request to enable it to proceed.
Revising your request can mean explaining in more detail the documents you wish to
access. For example, by providing more specific information about exactly what documents
you are interested in, ASIC will be able to pinpoint the documents more quickly and avoid
using excessive resources to process documents you are not interested in.
One example of a more reasonable request in the circumstances could be to specify a
subject matter or topic that you wish the correspondence, or meetings, to be about.
The consultation period runs for
14 days and starts on the day after you receive this notice.
Before the end of the consultation period, you must do one of the following, in writing:
• withdraw your request;
• make a revised request;
• indicate that you do not wish to revise your request.
During this period, you are welcome to seek assistance from me to revise your request. If
you revise your request in a way that adequately addresses the practical refusal grounds
outlined above, I will recommence processing it. (Please note that the time taken to consult
with you regarding the scope of your request is not taken into account for the purposes of
the 30 day time limit for processing your request).
If you do not do one of the three things listed above during the consultation period or you do
not consult me during this period, your request will be taken to have been withdrawn.
Contact officer
If you would like to revise your request or have any questions, please contact me on 03
9280 4416 or by email at xxxxxx.xxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx for assistance.
Yours sincerely
Haydar Tuncer
Senior Lawyer - Freedom of Information
Australian Securities and Investments Commission
Phone: 03 9280 4416
Email:
xxxxxx.xxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
