FOI Fact Sheet 7
Freedom of information – Charges
October 2010
Australian Government agencies and ministers may impose a charge for the work involved in providing
access to documents you request under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act). These
charges are imposed in accordance with the FOI Act and the
Freedom of Information (Charges)
Regulations (the Charges Regulations). There is no charge if you request access to your personal
information. How the charge is calculated should be clearly explained to you. You can ask for the
charge to be reduced or for the documents to be provided for free. The estimate can be re-calculated
if you change the scope of your request for access. You can ask the agency or minister to review their
decision on charges, and you can also ask the Information Commissioner to review the decision.
Charges
• Photocopy - 10c per page
An agency or minister may impose a charge on an
• Transcript - $4.40 per page
FOI applicant in accordance with the FOI Act and
Charges Regulations. The charge should fairly
• Supervised inspection - $6.25 per half hour
reflect the work involved in providing access
• Delivery - cost of postage or delivery.
to documents on request. A charge cannot be
used to discourage someone from exercising
There is no charge for making an FOI request to
their right of access under the FOI Act.
an agency or minister for access to a document,
It’s my personal information – is there a
or for amendment or annotation of a personal
charge?
record.
There is no charge for documents that contain
The first five hours of decision making time is
your personal information. You may be asked to
free for all applicants.
identify yourself so the agency can ensure the
documents relate to you.
Can I ask for the charge to be reduced?
An agency can reduce or waive (that is, decide
In many cases a person can access their own
not to impose) a charge. You can ask for charges
personal information without needing to make
to be reduced or waived when you make your
an FOI application. You should talk to the agency
FOI access request, or at any later time.
about this before you make an FOI application.
How is the charge calculated?
The agency will consider any reason you give
for seeking a reduction or waiver. The two most
The Charges Regulations specify different rates
common reasons for doing so are that payment
for the various activities involved in processing
of a charge would cause financial hardship, or
a request. The main charges are:
disclosing the documents would be in the public
interest.
• Search and retrieval - $15 per hour
• Decision making - $20 per hour
FOI Fact Sheet 7 – Charges
1
It is important that you explain or provide
The agency must give you at least 30 days to
evidence to support your claim for waiver or
respond. If you do not respond before the date
reduction. To support a claim that a charge
set out in the estimate letter, the agency may
will cause you financial hardship you might,
conclude you do not wish to continue with the
for example, provide a copy of a pension or
FOI access request and consider it withdrawn.
welfare card. If you claim that disclosure would
This means your access request will not be
be in the public interest, you might explain how
processed.
the documents will be used in public research,
in preparing a submission to a parliamentary
If you dispute the estimated charge or ask for it
inquiry, or in advancing public debate on a topic
to be waived or reduced, the agency must notify
of current importance.
you of its decision within 30 days. Similarly, if you
change the terms of your FOI request the agency
An agency is not obliged to waive or reduce
will re-calculate the estimate of charges and give
a charge, even if it accepts your reason for
you a new estimate for your comment.
requesting it. In particular, an agency can decide
to impose a charge even though it would cause
When should I pay?
you financial hardship or disclosure would be in
If an agency requires a deposit from you, you
the public interest.
must pay it within 30 days or a further period
Payment
allowed by the agency. The agency can defer
work on your FOI request until the deposit is
When will I be notified of a charge?
paid or the agency decides to waive the charge
following a request from you.
Before requiring you to pay a charge the agency
must send you a notice setting out an estimate
You can pay the full amount of the estimated
and the basis for the calculation. The agency
charge either at that stage, or later when the
can require you to pay a deposit of 25% of the
agency makes its decision on your access
total estimate, or $20 if the estimate is less than
request. In deciding to grant access, an agency
$100.
can require you to pay a higher charge if
more work was involved than the agency had
You will be given the opportunity to respond
anticipated, except where the agency does not
before a charge is imposed or a deposit is paid.
give you full access to all the documents you
You can respond by –
sought. The FOI Act requires you to pay any
• agreeing with the estimate and paying a
charge in full before you can have access to any
deposit as required by the agency
documents, except where a charge relates to
supervising your inspection of documents.
• disputing the amount of the estimated charge
or the way it was calculated
Any deposit you have paid is not refundable,
except in three circumstances: if the agency
• requesting the agency to reduce or waive the
decides to reduce or waive a charge following a
charge
request from you; if the agency, after processing
• changing the terms of your FOI request to
your FOI request, decides that the charge
reduce the work required to process it, or
payable is less than the deposit you have paid
(in which case you will receive a partial refund);
• withdrawing your FOI request.
or if the agency fails to make a decision on your
FOI Fact Sheet 7 – Charges
2
request within the statutory time limit, including
Getting the documents
any extension granted by the Information
Commissioner. If you paid a deposit and the
I have the agency’s decision – when do I get
agency decides not to grant you access to any
the documents?
document, you are not entitled to a refund of
You will be given access to the documents
the deposit.
when:
Can I get an invoice for the charge?
• you have paid the charges (including any
Yes. You can ask the agency to issue an invoice
outstanding balance) and
for a charge it has imposed.
• any rights a third party has to seek a review
Disputing a charge
of the decision have run out.
When an agency notifies you of an estimated
See
FOI Fact sheet 11 Freedom of information
charge, you can ask the agency to review the
– Your rights if information about you or your
decision to impose the charge, or to reduce
business is requested for more information
or waive the charge. Two common grounds
about when a third party can seek review.
for doing so are that paying the charge would
cause you financial hardship, or you believe that
The information provided in this fact sheet is of a general
disclosure of the documents would be in the
nature. It is not a substitute for legal advice.
public interest.
You can also seek review of an agency decision to
For further information
impose a charge, either by the agency (internal
telephone: 1300 363 992
review) or by the Information Commissioner.
email: xxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
There is no application fee for internal review
write:
or Information Commissioner review. For
GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001
more information on the review process, see
or visit our website at
FOI Fact Sheet 12 Freedom of information
www.oaic.gov.au
– Your review rights.
FOI Fact Sheet 7 – Charges
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Document Outline
