Freedom of Information (Amendment) Act 2003

Amendment of section 47 (fees) of Principal Act.

30.—Section 47 of the Principal Act is amended by inserting the following after subsection (6):

“(6A) (a) A fee of such amount (if any) as may be prescribed shall be charged by the public body concerned and paid by the requester or, as the case may be, the applicant, concerned to the body in respect of a request under section 7 or an application under section 14 or 34.

(b) A fee under this subsection shall be paid at the time of the making of the request or application concerned and, if it is not so paid, the head concerned or, as the case may be, the Commissioner shall refuse to accept the request or application, and it shall be deemed, for the purposes of this Act, not to have been made.

(c) A fee under this subsection shall not be charged if the record or records concerned contains or contain only personal information relating to the requester or, as the case may be, the applicant.

(d) Fees of different amounts may be prescribed under paragraph (a) in respect of different classes of requester or different classes of applicant.

(e) Subsection (2) does not apply to a fee under this subsection.”.