Requesting records from institutions

Upon receipt of a valid complaint, the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) will initiate investigative procedures which involve the notification of the federal institution subject of the complaint (section 32 notice) and the request for records. The following sets out the initial investigative procedures and timelines followed by the OIC, depending on the type of complaint.

Type of Complaints 

1) Administrative complaint (i.e. delay/deemed refusal, time extension, fees, miscellaneous):

The OIC will contact the institutional Access to Information and Privacy (ATIP) Director to request that copies of the required records be provided within 10 business days.

This request will be made at the same time as the notice of intention to investigate is issued to the institution to expedite the investigation of the complaint.

2) Refusal complaint (i.e. exemption, exclusion, missing records, incomplete response):

The OIC will contact the institutional ATIP Director to request that copies of the required records be provided within 10 business days. This request for records will be made when the complaint is about to be assigned to an investigator.

* [Where early resolution is attempted on a refusal complaint or where it is deemed to be a priority (see practice direction on triage of complaints), the request for the records will be made at the same time as the notice of intention to investigate is issued.]

Exceptions:

There may be circumstances where urgency requires that a complaint be expedited. In such exceptional cases, the timeline for requesting records may be less than 10 days.

Escalation Procedures 

Any failure to provide the records within the required timeline will be considered as a “refusal to provide records” and will lead to immediate action by the OIC. The Access to Information Act makes it an offence to obstruct. Therefore, any unjustified delay will be brought to the attention of a senior institutional official and may result in the use of formal powers such as the collection of records at the premises of the institution or the issuance of an order to compel the production of the requested records.

Last updated: October 1st 2009