13/2343
28 February 2013
Mr Patrick Gardner
Sent via email only: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Mr Gardner
Re: Section 24AB - Notice of Intention to Refuse
I refer to your request made under the
Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the Act) received by this
Department on 10 February 2013. You have sought access to:
‘(a) Electronically available documents prepared prior to Australia’s ratification of the
Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement (‘AUSFTA’), which discuss amendments to the
Copyright Act (1968) in order to comply with provisions of AUSFTA.
(b) Electronically available documents prepared following Australia’s ratification of AUSFTA,
of the same kind requested in (a).
(c) Any electronically available correspondence with the Productivity Commission in relation
to the impact of AUSFTA on intellectual property rights and associated legislation.
Please consider items (a), (b) and (c) as separate requests. If there is to be a substantial delay
in providing this information, please advise, as a general indication of the quantity of
documents fitting into (a) and (b) may satisfy those requests.
I am, pursuant to arrangements approved by the Secretary of this Department under section 23(1) of
the Act, authorised to make decisions on behalf of this Department, in relation to this matter.
Accordingly, I have obtained advice from relevant line areas of this Department on how many
documents would need to be examined to process your request. I am advised that the documents
you have sought comprise many thousands of pages of material. Once all such material was located
and examined, extensive consultation would then be necessary, both within and outside the
Department and to include a foreign government. As you will appreciate, that would be a very
resource and time consuming task.
Sections 24 and 24AA of Act – Unreasonable Diversion of Resources
Sections 24 and 24AA of the Act together allow an agency to refuse a request where its processing
would ‘
substantially and unreasonably divert the resources of the agency from its other
operations’. In short, based on the above advice from the relevant line areas of this Department, I
believe that the processing of your request, as it is presently worded, would involve a substantial
and unreasonable diversion of the resources of this Department.
Section 24AB - Notice of Intention to Refuse
Subsection 24AB(2) of the Act provides that where an agency believes that the processing of a
request would involve such a diversion of resources, it must give the applicant a written notice
advising of its intention to refuse the request on that ground – and at the same time give the
applicant an opportunity to narrow the scope of the request to render it manageable.
Accordingly, pursuant to subsection 24AB(2) of the Act, I am hereby providing you with notice
that, unless your request is significantly revised and its ambit significantly narrowed, I intend to
refuse it on the above ground.
In accordance with subsection 24AB(6) of the Act, you now have 14 days to either:
•
withdraw your request;
•
revise your request; or
•
advise that you do not wish to revise your request.
During this 14 day period, which concludes on Wednesday 13 March 2013, you are welcome to
consult with me and seek my assistance in revising your request. Briefly, the simplest ways of
reducing the scope of your request would, of course, be to limit either the time frame and/or the
subject matter.
Please note that subsection 24AB(7) of the Act provides that if you have not consulted me, or have
not done any of the three things mentioned above, within 14 days of the date on which you receive
this letter, your request will be deemed to have been withdrawn.
Yours sincerely,
Logan Tudor
Legal Officer
FOI & Privacy Section
Telephone: (02) 6141 3715
Email: xxxxx.xxxxx@xx.xxx.xx
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