A new age has dawned as government information transparency becomes the norm. Cyber Law Consultant Dr Rita Esen explains...

The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act gives the following rights to citizens.

• The right to be told whether or not information requested is held.
• The right to be given the information within 20 days.
• The right to be told whether an exemption applies.

There's a duty on all public agencies and publicly-owned companies to adopt and maintain a publication scheme that details the classes of information that it will regularly publish.

Effective FOI implementation program

In order to adequately prepare for the implementation of FOI, organisations have to put certain mechanisms in place as follows:

1) Appoint an Information Manager. Organisations should identify/appoint an individual at management level to take charge of Freedom of Information issues.

2) Appoint A Freedom of Information Team. Although all employees are responsible for managing records in their custody, a FOI Team should be appointed to work with the FOI manager. This team should be responsible for addressing all information management, requests and updates to the publication scheme.

3) Provide awareness training for the whole organisation. As it is often said that “processes enable but people perform”, staff have to be a made aware of their responsibilities and obligations under the FOI Act and need to know how to identify information requests. Courses should be provided to make staff aware of their duty to use good standards of records management.

4) Circulate staff guidelines. Staff need guidelines on the requirements of the Act, how to manage records and their role in the response process. The guidelines should include forms, checklists and other tools that will help staff to comply with FOI requirements.

5) Conduct an FOI compliance audit. Organisations should conduct a FOI audit in order to have a systematic review of their readiness for accepting and managing requests. The audit should identify problem areas and put in place an action plan to make the organisation compliant.

6) Provide records management policies and procedures to staff. These should provide rules and procedures for all stages in the ‘life’ of an organisation’s records. It should cover the processes of creating, acquiring, updating, handling, using, transmitting, storing and disposing of records.

7) Put appropriate complaint handling procedures in place. Organisations need to put in place complaint handling procedures. Such procedures should inform the complainant of the appropriate steps to take and who to contact when submitting a complaint.

Failure to comply with FOI requirements

The first remedy available to persons that have requested information is to complain to the organisation involved.

If they are dissatisfied with the way their complaints have been dealt with, they can take their complaints to the Information Commissioner.

Where information has been withheld unreasonably or the charges for the information are unfair, individuals can appeal to the Information Commissioner.

Cyberlaw Services provides all of the necessary assistance to organisations in complying with and meeting their legal obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Contact CyberLaw and ask any question about FOI compliance strategy.

The answer won't cost anything and could save you future difficulties.

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