Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to FOIP, Chapter 3, Access to Records. Updated 5 May 2023. 101 • Location of records149 Circumstances that would not qualify: • The government institution has not allocated the FOIP area sufficient resources • Long term or systemic problems • Vacations • Office processes (e.g., sign-off) • Personal commitments • Pre-planned events (e.g., retirements) • No work done during initial 30 days • Type of applicant (media, political, etc.)150 Subsection 12(1)(a)(ii) Subsection 12(1)(a)(ii) of FOIP provides that an extension can be applied where the government institution has received a large number of access to information requests and completing them within the original 30 days would unreasonably interfere with the operations of the public body. Subsection 49(1)(a) of FOIP provides that an applicant can request a review by the Commissioner if not satisfied with a decision of the government institution pursuant to section 12 of FOIP. In the event an applicant requests a review of the government institution’s application of an extension, the Commissioner will consider whether the government institution’s application of the extension complied with section 12 of FOIP. If a government institution has not complied with subsection 12(3) of FOIP, the Commissioner will not consider whether a government institution has complied with subsections 12(1) or 12(2) of FOIP.151 Therefore, government institutions should ensure that the section 7 decision letter is provided to the applicant within the period of the extension. For this purpose, both parts of the following test must be met: 1. Were there a high number of requests at the time? Volume considerations: • How many requests are involved. 149 BC IPC, Resource, Time Extension Guidelines for Public Bodies, at p. 5-6. 150 BC IPC, Resource, Time Extension Guidelines for Public Bodies, at p. 5-6. 151 SK OIPC Review Reports 322-2021, 030-2022at [19], 164-2021 at [124].
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