Access to Information Regulations

Contents

His Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Justice and the Treasury Board, pursuant to subsection 77(1) of the Access to Information Act, is pleased hereby to make the annexed Regulations respecting access to information.^note

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[Repealed, SOR/2018-38, s. 2] (repealed)

Interpretation

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In these Regulations,

Access to Information Request Form means the form prescribed by the designated Minister pursuant to paragraph 70(1)(b) of the Act for the purpose of requesting access to records under the control of a government institution; (formule de demande d’accès à l’information)

Act means the Access to Information Act; (Loi)

appropriate officer means the officer of a government institution whose title and address is published pursuant to paragraph 5(1)(d) of the Act. (fonctionnaire compétent)

^note

Limitation on Production of Records

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For the purpose of subsection 4(3) of the Act, a record that does not exist but can be produced from a machine readable record under the control of a government institution need not be produced where the production thereof would unreasonably interfere with the operations of the institution.

Procedures

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(1)A request for access to a record under Part 1 of the Act must be made by forwarding to the appropriate officer of the government institution that has control of the record, together with the required application fee,

(a)a completed Access to Information Request Form; or

(b)a written request that provides sufficient detail to enable the officer to identify the record.

(2)If the information contained in the request is insufficient to establish that the person making the request has a right of access under section 4 of the Act, the government institution must request additional information from the person in order to confirm their right of access.

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If access is to be given to a record that contains personal information about the person who requested access, the government institution must require the person to provide adequate identification before the personal information is disclosed unless the person’s identity has already been confirmed.^note

Transfer of Request

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In Schedule 3 (permitted additives and provisions relating to their use) —

(1)The head of a government institution may, within 15 days after a request for access to a record is received by the institution, transfer the request to another government institution as provided in subsection 8(1) of the Act, on condition that the head of the other government institution consents to process the request within the time limit set out for such a request in the Act.

(2)A request that has been transferred under subsection (1) shall not be transferred to a third government institution.

Fees

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A person who makes a request for access to a record under Part 1 of the Act must pay an application fee of $5 at the time the request is made.^note

Access

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(1)Where a person is given access to a record or part thereof under the control of a government institution, the head of the institution may require that the person be given an opportunity to examine the record or part thereof, rather than a copy of the record or part thereof if,

(a)the record or part thereof is so lengthy that reproduction of the record or part thereof would unreasonably interfere with the operations of the institution; or

(b)the record or part thereof is in a form that does not readily lend itself to reproduction.

(1.1)Where a person is given access to a record or part thereof under the control of a government institution, the head of the institution shall provide the person with an opportunity to examine the record or part thereof, rather than with a copy of the record or part thereof, where providing a copy to that person is prohibited by or under another Act of Parliament.

(2)Where a person is given access to a record under the control of a government institution, the head of the institution may require that the person be given a copy of the record, rather than an opportunity to examine it if,

(a)the record forms a disclosable part of a record for which disclosure may otherwise be refused under Part 1 of the Act and from which it cannot reasonably be severed for examination; or

(b)the record is in a form that does not readily lend itself to examination.

(3)Where access to a record under the control of a government institution is given in the form of an opportunity to examine the record, the head of the government institution shall

(a)provide reasonable facilities for the examination; and

(b)set a time for the examination that is convenient both for the institution and the person.

(4)[Repealed, SOR/2023-156, s. 4] (repealed)

Limitations in Respect of Format

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(1)For the purposes of subsection 4(2.1) of the Act, if access to a record involves giving a copy of the record, the copy does not have to be provided in the requested format if the record does not exist in that format within the government institution and the head of the government institution considers, taking into account the factors described in subsection (3), that the conversion of the record to the requested format is unreasonable.

(2)If the head of the government institution considers that the conversion of the record to the requested format is unreasonable, the copy of the record must be provided in a format chosen by the person making the request

(a)from a format in which the record already exists within the government institution; or

(b)from a format the conversion to which the head of the government institution considers is reasonable taking into account the factors described in subsection (3).

(3)The following factors are to be taken into account in determining if the conversion to the requested format is reasonable or unreasonable:

(a)the costs to the government institution;

(b)the potential degradation of the record;

(c)if the person making the request is to be given access to only a part of a record, the facility with which the record may be severed in the format requested;

(d)the existence of the record within the government institution in another format that is useful to the person making the request;

(e)the possibility that the record can be converted to another format that is useful to the person making the request;

(f)the impact on the operations of the government institution;

(g)the availability of the required personnel, resources, technology and equipment.

^note

Investigative Bodies

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The investigative bodies for the purpose of paragraph 16(1)(a) of the Act are the investigative bodies set out in Schedule I to these Regulations.

Classes of Investigations

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The classes of investigations for the purpose of paragraph 16(4)(c) of the Act are the classes of investigations set out in Schedule II to these Regulations.

Schedule I · Investigative Bodies (Section 9)

1 [Repealed, SOR/2013-114, s. 1]2 Canadian Forces Military Police2.01 Canadian Forces National Counter-Intelligence Unit2.1 Canadian Security Intelligence Service2.2 Criminal Investigations Directorate, International, Large Business and Investigations Branch, Canada Revenue Agency3 Director of Investigation and Research, Department of Consumer and Corporate Affairs4 Intelligence and Targeting Operations Directorate, Canada Border Services Agency5 Preventive Security and Intelligence Branch, Correctional Service of Canada6 Royal Canadian Mounted Police7 [Repealed, SOR/2018-38, s. 5]8 [Repealed, SOR/2013-114, s. 3]

Schedule II · Classes of Investigations (Section 10)

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Investigations by a Fact Finding Board established by the Department of Transport to investigate air traffic control where it has been alleged that owing to a system deficiency

(a)flight safety may have been jeopardized; or

(b)less than the minimum required separation between aircraft may have existed.

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Investigations by a Flight Service Station Review Committee established by the Department of Transport to investigate reported occurrences relating to aviation safety where

(a)procedures or actions or a lack thereof,

(b)systems failure, or

(c)other causes

have brought the reliability of a Flight Service Station of the Flight Service Station System into question.

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Canadian Forces flight safety accident investigations other than those conducted in the form of a board of inquiry or summary investigation under the National Defence Act.

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Investigations by or under the authority of the Canadian Forces Fire Marshall for the purpose of determining the cause of a fire, other than those conducted in the form of a board of inquiry or summary investigation under the National Defence Act.

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Investigations by the Special Inquiries Unit of the Inspector General’s Branch of the Correctional Service of Canada.

Federal laws of Canada reproduced under the Reproduction of Federal Law Order (SI/97-5); not the official version. Source: Justice Laws Website.