s.6General right of access
6
Section 6Part 2 — Right of Access

General right of access

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Subject to the provisions of this Act, every person shall have a right to obtain access to a record other than an exempt record.
The exemption of a record or part thereof from disclosure shall not apply after the record has been in existence for twenty years unless otherwise stated in this Act or if it can be demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Ombudsman that the exemption reasonably continues to apply.
An applicant for access to a record shall not be required to give any reason for requesting access to that record.
Where a record is —
open to access by the public pursuant to any other enactment as part of a public register or otherwise; or
available to the public, or a particular individual, as the case may be, in accordance with administrative procedures established for that purpose, and irrespective of whether it is available —
after payment of a reasonable fee; or
without payment of a fee,
access to that record shall be obtained in accordance with the provisions of that enactment or those procedures.
Where the factors in favour of disclosure and those favouring non-disclosure are equal, the doubt shall be resolved in favour of disclosure but subject to the public interest test prescribed under section 26.

Defined Terms

recordexempt recordapplicant

Cross References