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Document
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P-1536
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File #
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P-9700308
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Institution/HIC
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Ministry of Natural Resources
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Summary
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NATURE OF THE APPEAL: The Ministry of Natural Resources (the Ministry) received a request under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act ) for access to all documentation and correspondence relating to a specified investigation of alleged non-payment of royalties on Crown timber. The Ministry consulted with the requester regarding the broad scope of the request and the time required to process it. The requester declined the Ministry's suggestion to narrow the request. The Ministry advised the requester that the request could not be processed within the normal time frame, and issued a notice under section 27 of the Act extending the time period by six months. The requester did not appeal this decision. The Ministry subsequently responded to the requester, advising her that it had retrieved and analyzed 10,694 pages of records and a number of video tapes and was denying access to approximately 80 percent of the records pursuant to sections 13, 14, 17 and 21 of the Act . The Ministry attached a 47-page index to its decision letter, generally identifying each record and indicating the appropriate exemption claims for each. The Ministry also advised the requester that she would have to pay a fee of $38,705.52 before access could be given. This fee consisted of search and photocopying costs totalling $700 and invoiced costs of $38,005.52. Copies of seven invoices were provided to the requester. The requester agreed to pay the search and photocopying charges, so these items are not at issue in this appeal. However, the requester asked the Ministry to waive the invoiced amount. The Ministry denied this request. The requester (now the appellant) appealed the inclusion of the invoiced costs in the fee and the Ministry's decision not to grant her a fee waiver, as well as the exemptions claimed by the Ministry. A Notice of Inquiry was provided to the Ministry and the appellant on the fee and fee waiver issues only. The parties agreed to defer consideration of the exemption claims pending the outcome of this inquiry. Representations were received from both parties. DISCUSSION: CALCULATION OF THE FEE The charging of a fee is authorized by section 57(1) of the Act , which states: A head shall require the person who makes a request for access to a record to pay fees in the amounts prescribed by the regulations for, (a) the costs of every hour of manual search required to locate a record; (b) the costs of preparing the record for disclosure; (c) computer and other costs incurred in locating, retrieving, processing and copying a record; (d) shipping costs; and (e) any other costs incurred in responding to a request for access to a record. Section 6 of Regulation 460 (as amended by Regulation 21/96) provides that: The following are the fees that shall be charged for the purposes of subsection 57(1) of the Act for access to a record: 1. For photocopies and computer printouts, 20 cents per page. 2. For floppy disks, $10 for each disk. 3. For manually searching a record, $7.50 for each 15 minutes spent by any person. 4. For preparing a record for disclosure, including severing a part of the record, $7.50 for each 15 minutes spent by any person. 5. For developing a computer program or other method of producing a record from machine readable record, $15 for each 15 minutes spent by any person. 6. The costs, including computer costs, that the institution incurs in locating, retrieving, processing and copying the record if those costs are specified in an invoice that the institution has received. The Ministry has set out its fee as follows: Search Time 10 Hours @ $30.00 per hour .. .. .. $ 300.00 Copying Costs 2200 pages (approx.) 2000 pages @ $0.20 per page .. .. $ 400.00 Invoiced Costs .. .. $38,005.52 TOTAL .. $38,705.52 ======== The invoiced costs consist of professional services provided by a consultant retained by the Ministry exclusively for the purpose of processing the request. These costs include disbursements for food, lodging, laundry, car rental and expenses, and office supplies. Also included is the use of a temporary employment agency to create the index. In reviewing the Ministry's fee, my responsibility under 57(5) of the Act is to ensure that the amount of fee is reasonable in the circumstances. The burden of establishing the reasonableness of the fee lies with the Ministry. In order to discharge this burden, the Ministry must provide me with a detailed explanation of how the fee has been calculated, and how each individual component of the overall fee fits within the scope of the Act and regulations. The appellant does not dispute the costs for searching or copying the records, only the invoiced costs. She does not take issue with the payment of fees properly chargeable under the Act , and states in her representations, "[she] is prepared to pay a reasonable fee pursuant to the Act but only for those records for which access will be granted." I
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Legislation
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Subject Index
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Signed by
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Tom Mitchinson
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Published
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Mar 03, 1998
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Type
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Order
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© Copyright
2013
Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. All Rights Reserved.
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