23 Marcus Clarke Street
Canberra ACT 2601
GPO Box 3131
Canberra ACT 2601
Our ref:
PRJ1006564
tel: (02) 6243 1111
Contact officer:
FOI Team
fax: (02) 6243 1199
Contact phone:
02 6243 1244
www.accc.gov.au
21 March 2023
Mr Rex Banner
Sent via email to: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Dear Rex
Access refusal – documents do not exist
I refer to your email dated 19 February 2023 in which you have requested access,
under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth), to:
‘emails between the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and:
Meta (including Instagram, Facebook, Whatsapp) on the topics of phone addiction or
social media addiction.
Below are some constraints that hopeful y narrow the scope.
Time frame 2022-01-01 till 2023-02-19
Please exclude drafts (and duplicates)
I'm happy to have all email addresses redacted except for the domain name. eg.
@facebook.com I'm happy to have names of anyone from the public service who's
pay grade is lower than SES1 redacted and for the 3rd parties anyone, unless they
are a director, vice president, some sort of executive officer eg. CFO.
I'm not against any other reasonable redactions just wanted to be upfront.
Please *exclude* emails that are to/from anyone who has the pay grade of:
APS1 through APS6, unless someone outside of that pay grade band is included.
For example emails:
To: APS1, APS2 would be excluded
However To: APS1, EL1 would be included.
I am not looking for emails that have been sent solely within the Australia
government, only emails that include one of the above companies.’
Decision
I have decided to refuse your request under s.24A(1) of the Act on the basis that the
document does not exist.
I am authorised under s.23 of the Act to make this decision.
Reasons for decision
Section 24A(1) of the Act relevantly provides as fol ows:
An agency or Minister may refuse a request for access to a document if:
(a) al reasonable steps have been taken to find the document; and
(b) the agency or Minister is satisfied that the document:
(i) is in the agency’s or Minister’s possession but cannot be found.
(ii) does not exist.
Therefore, we may refuse a request for access to a document if we take al
reasonable steps to find that document and we are satisfied that the document does
not exist.
The ACCC took the fol owing steps to locate the document:
A thorough search of our databases to locate any information or documents that
relate to your request;
A thorough search by the relevant ACCC branch for documents within the scope
of the request provided by you.
Confirmation with relevant ACCC staff that no such documents exist;
Based on the nil results of these steps, I conclude that the requested document does
not exist within the records of the ACCC.
Rights of review
Your rights of review are set out in Attachment A.
Yours sincerely
Rebecca Fenech
FOI Manager
Specialist Advice and Services Division
Sent by email 21/03/2023
2
Attachment A
Information on rights of review
ACCC Internal Review
Under s.54 of the FOI Act, you can ask for an internal review of this decision. If you request
an internal review request, another officer of the ACCC wil review your request and make a
new decision.
Timeframe for requesting internal review
You have 30 days from the receipt of this decision to request an internal review.
You may seek an extension to this timeframe with our agreement.
Is there a charge?
There is no charge payable for requesting an internal review.
Requesting an internal review
Your request for internal review must be in writing and indicate that you are seeking an
internal review. You wil need explain why this decision should be changed.
Please send your internal review request to the FOI Team by either:
Email:
xxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
Post:
GPO Box 3131, Canberra ACT 2601
When will the decision be made?
We have 30 days from the receipt of your internal review request to make a decision.
If we do not make a decision within 30 days or such further period as the IC al ows, the
original decision is considered affirmed. In such circumstances, you can seek review of our
deemed decision by the Information Commissioner.
Review by the Information Commissioner
You can ask for a review of this decision by the Australian Information Commissioner (IC).
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) encourages applicants to
seek internal review first, however you are not required to go through our internal review
process before seeking review by the IC. If you do choose to seek an internal review, you
can stil seek IC review of the internal review decision if we refuse access to your request.
Timeframe for requesting IC review
You have 60 days from the receipt of an access refusal decision to request IC review.
You may seek an extension to this timeframe from the OAIC.
Is there a charge?
There is no charge payable for requesting an IC review.
Requesting IC review
Your request for IC review must be in writing and include:
your name and contact details
a copy of the ACCC’s decision that you disagree with (if you’ve received one)
the reason(s) why you disagree with the decision
You can lodge your request for IC review in one of the fol owing ways:
Online: https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/reviews-and-complaints/information-
commissioner-review
Post:
GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001
Fax:
+61 2 9284 9666
Email:
xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
Complaint to the Information Commissioner
You can request the Information Commissioner to investigate action taken by the ACCC in
relation to this FOI request. The Information Commissioner wil consider your complaint and,
if appropriate, conduct an investigation. Any investigation wil be completely independent.
Is there a charge?
There is no charge payable for making a complaint to the IC.
Lodging an IC complaint
You must lodge your complaint in writing and give a clear and brief description of each issue
you’re complaining about and what outcome you’d like.
You can lodge a complaint in one of the fol owing ways:
Online: https://www.oaic.gov.au/freedom-of-information/reviews-and-complaints/make-an-foi-
complaint
Post:
GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001
Fax:
+61 2 9284 9666
Email:
xxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
