Freedom of Information Act 2014

Amendment of records relating to personal information

9. (1) Where personal information in a record held by an FOI body is incomplete, incorrect or misleading, the head of the body shall, on application to him or her in that behalf, in writing or in such other form as may be determined, by the individual to whom the information relates, amend the record—

(a) by altering it so as to make the information complete or correct or not misleading, as may be appropriate,

(b) by adding to the record a statement specifying the respects in which the body is satisfied that the information is incomplete, incorrect or misleading, as may be appropriate, or

(c) by deleting the information from it.

(2) An application under subsection (1) shall, in so far as is practicable—

(a) specify the record concerned and the amendment required, and

(b) include appropriate information in support of the application.

(3) The head concerned shall, as soon as may be, but not later than 4 weeks, after the receipt by him or her of an application under subsection (1), decide whether to grant or refuse to grant the application and shall cause notice, in writing or in such other form as may be determined, of his or her decision and, if the decision is to grant it, of the manner of such grant to be given to the person concerned.

(4) (a) If the grant of an application under subsection (1) is refused, the head concerned shall—

(i) attach to the record concerned the application or a copy of it or, if that is not practicable, a notation indicating that the application has been made, and

(ii) include in the notification under subsection (3) particulars of—

(I) rights of review and appeal under this Act in relation to the decision to refuse to grant the application, and

(II) the procedure governing the exercise of those rights and any time limits governing such exercise.

(b) Paragraph (a)(i) does not apply in relation to a case in which the head concerned is of the opinion that the contents of the application concerned are defamatory, or the alterations or additions to the record concerned to which the application relates would be unnecessarily voluminous.

(5) Where a record is amended pursuant to this section, the FOI body concerned shall take all reasonable steps to give notice of the making of the amendment to—

(a) any person to whom access to the record was granted under this Act, and

(b) any other FOI body to whom a copy of the record was given,

during the period of one year ending on the date on which the amendment was effected.

(6) Notwithstanding subsection (1), the Minister may provide by regulations for the making of an application under that subsection—

(a) by the parent or guardian of an individual referred to in that subsection, if the individual belongs to a class specified in the regulations, or

(b) in a case where such an individual is dead, by a member of a class specified in the regulations.

(7) A head to whom a request under this section is made may refuse to grant the request if the request is, in the opinion of the head, frivolous or vexatious, or forms part of a pattern of manifestly unreasonable requests from the same requester or from different requesters who appear to have made the requests acting in concert.

(8) A head shall cause the receipt by him or her of an application under this section to be notified to the applicant in the manner specified in section 12 (2).

(9) In the case of a decision to refuse to grant an application under this section the notice under subsection (3) in relation to the decision shall comply with section 13 (2)(d).

(10) An application under this section shall be expressed to be such an application and shall contain sufficient particulars in relation to the personal information concerned to enable the record to be identified by the taking of reasonable steps.

(11) Notwithstanding subsection (10), where an FOI body receives either—

(a) an application which purports to be an application under this section but which is not in the proper form, or

(b) an application which does not purport to be an application under this section but which applies for the amendment of personal information to which amendment can be effected only by way of an application under this section,

the head shall assist, or offer to assist, the individual in the preparation of an application under this section.