Level 5, 100 Market Street,
Sydney NSW 2000
GPO Box 9827, Sydney NSW 2001
16 May 2016
DX 653 Sydney
Telephone: +61 2 9911 2000
Facsimile: +61 2 9911 2414
Mr Ben Fairless
www.asic.gov.au
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Sir
Freedom of Information Application - Notification of Liability for Processing
Charges under Section 29 of the Act
I refer to your request under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act) of 21
April 2016. Your request seeks access to the following documents:
All documents related to the FOI File for the FOI request reference "SPEAR
09-20044/FOI Request" including, but not limited to:
a copy of correspondence between the original decision maker and the
affected 3rd party
a copy of the correspondence between the Internal Review decision
maker and the affected 3rd party
a copy of correspondence between ASIC and the OAIC
internal correspondence between the FOI Team and the FOI Decision
Maker.
I note that you have excluded the following from your request:
personally identifiable information of members of the public (including
contact numbers and email address; and
copies of documents already provided to you on the Right to Know
Website in relation to the request.
Although not stated as an exclusion, I have also assumed that you do not seek access
to further copies of correspondence sent by you to ASIC.
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In accordance with section 29 of the FOI Act you are liable to pay a charge for the
processing of your request. The preliminary assessment of that charge is as follows:
Decision making time:
10 hours* x $20.00
$200.00
Search and retrieval
Minimal - no charge
NIL
Minus
5 hours** x $20.00
$100.00
Total:
$100.00
* Includes time spent consulting third parties, examining documents and third party
submissions, preparing a decision and schedule of documents and applying
redactions.
** The Freedom of Information (Charges) Regulations 1982, as amended on 1
November 2010, provide that the first 5 hours of decision making time is free.
The charge may be paid in full, or you may pay a deposit of 25% of the total charge.
In accordance with Regulation 11 of the Freedom of Information (Charges)
Regulations 1982 access to the documents will only be provided upon receipt of the
total charges due.
This charge assessment is a preliminary assessment of the charges arising in respect to
processing the request. In some instances when the processing of the request is
complete there may be some variation in the charges payable to those advised in this
preliminary assessment. If you pay the full amount advised above prior to the
decision about access and the final assessment of the amount of the charge is
1. less than the amount you have paid, you will be entitled to a refund where you
have paid too much;
2. greater than the amount you have paid, you may be required under certain
circumstances to pay an additional amount if the final assessment is more than
the amount already paid. It is to be noted that no higher amount than that
advised in the preliminary assessment can be imposed if the decision is to
refuse your request for access to the document/s sought. A higher amount can
be imposed if access is granted wholly or in part.
Under the FOI Act you may challenge the above assessment on the basis that it was
wrongly assessed, or you may wish to submit that it should be reduced or not
imposed. In deciding whether to vary the charges I am required to take into account
whether the imposition of the charge will cause you (or the person on whose behalf
you are making this application) financial hardship and whether, the giving of access
to the document/s in question is in the general public interest or in the interest of a
substantial section of the public. Your submission should address these issues and any
other factor you wish to bring to my attention which may assist me in making my
decision in this regard.
It is important that within 30 days of receipt of this notice you:
1. pay the charge or deposit; OR
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2. make a submission to me in writing stating that the charge has been wrongly
assessed, or should be reduced, or should not be imposed, and setting out the
reasons/grounds for your submission (addressing the issues mentioned above);
OR
3. advise me in writing that you wish to withdraw your request.
If I do not receive the required deposit or payment for the total charge, or a
submission from you within 30 days of receipt of this notice your request will be
regarded as withdrawn.
As I have advised you, an application must be processed, as a general rule, within 30
days. Please note however that in accordance with section 31 of the FOI Act the time
for processing your request is suspended from the day you receive this notice,
assumed to be the second day of business after the notice was posted, and will resume
when any of the following occurs:
(a)
on the day after you pay the charge specified above (or part thereof by way of
deposit); OR
(b)
on the day after you pay the revised amount (either in full or in part by way of
deposit) where ASIC has decided to vary the amount imposed; OR
(c)
on the day after ASIC decides not to impose the charge.
Should you have any questions concerning the charges for processing your
application, including the waiver of charges, please contact me on (02) 9911 2847 or
email via email address xxxxxx.xxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours faithfully
Philip Peck
(Authorised Decision-maker under section 23(1) of the FOI Act)
