Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to FOIP, CHAPTER 5, Third Party Information. Updated 9 March 2023. 120 Section 52: Notice of application for review Notice of application for review 52(1) A head who has refused an application for access to a record or part of a record shall, immediately on receipt of a notice of review pursuant to section 49, give written notice of the review to any third party that the head: (a) has notified pursuant to subsection 34(1); or (b) would have notified pursuant to subsection 34(1) if the head had intended to give access to the record or part of the record. (2) A head shall, immediately on receipt of a notice of review pursuant to section 49 by a third party, give written notice of the review to the applicant. It is a requirement of the Act that government institutions notify third parties that an application for a review has been made as per section 52 of FOIP. The IPC will invite third parties to provide representations to the Commissioner’s office once a review has been commenced so this notice by the government institution is important. If a government institution has applied section 19(1) of FOIP to information in records but has failed to provide notice pursuant to section 52 and is unable to identify third parties for the Commissioner, the burden of proof will not be met, and section 19(1) of FOIP may be found to not apply.246 Third parties should not be told who the applicant is at any point in the process. To do so, may constitute a breach of the applicant’s privacy pursuant to Part IV of FOIP.247 IPC Findings In Review Report F-2013-003, the Commissioner considered the Ministry of Agriculture’s (Agriculture) failure to provide a section 52 notice of application for review to third parties with apparent interests in the records at issue. When the Commissioner’s office requested the contact information for the third parties so they could be informed of the review and invited to provide representations to the Commissioner regarding the application of section 19 of FOIP, Agriculture was unable to provide contact information. Failure to provide a section 52 246 SK OIPC Review Report F-2013-003 at [19], [25], [26] and [67] to [73]. 247 Les Viandes du Breton Inc. v. Canada (Canadian Food Inspection Agency), 2006 FC 1075 (CanLII) at [13] and [19].
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