Our Ref:
17129/16
Level 5, 100 Market Street,
Sydney NSW 2000
23 May 2016
GPO Box 9827, Sydney NSW 2001
DX 653 Sydney
Telephone: +61 2 9911 2000
Mr Phillip Sweeney
Facsimile: +61 2 9911 2414
www.asic.gov.au
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Sweeney
Freedom of Information Request
Advice to Applicant of Consultation with Affected Third Party
I refer to your email dated 7 May 2016, in which you sought access to a document under
the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act), and the subsequent email
communications between us on this matter.
The document that falls within the terms of your request contains information which is
information about the business, commercial or financial affairs of an organisation.
Under the FOI Act, this information may be exempt from release. For this type of
information, the FOI Act makes provision under s27 for consulting with the affected
party to obtain their views before a final decision is made on whether to release the
relevant document. In deciding whether or not to release the document, the FOI
decision-maker must objectively consider all the relevant factors involved in relation to
the application, including the views contained in any submission from an affected party.
Accordingly, on 16 May 2016, I wrote inviting the party concerned to make a
submission.
Under section 15(6) of the FOI Act, the normal statutory time limit of 30 days for
processing the application has been extended by a further 30 days, to enable the affected
party to put forward their submission. Accordingly, you will be notified of my decision
on your request as soon as possible and before 6 July 2016, which is the end of the
extended time period.
Please note that in the event that I decide, contrary to the views of the affected party, to
release the document which is the subject of the consultation, access to the document
cannot be granted to you until the affected party has been given the opportunity to seek
either an internal review (within ASIC) of my decision or to seek review of my decision
by the Commonwealth Information Commissioner. The third party request for an
2
internal review by ASIC must be made within 30 days of being told of my decision on
release and we are then required to process that request for internal review within 30
days. Naturally, you will be informed of any developments in this regard.
Should you have any questions concerning the processing of your request, please contact
me on (02) 9911 5457 or via email at xxxxxx.xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx.
Yours sincerely
Evelyn Ong
(Authorised Decision-maker under section 23(1) of the FOI Act)
For the Australian Securities and Investments Commission