Auckland City Local Governance Statement

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Procedures for Dealing with Official Information

Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA) / Official Information

Principles of LGOIMA

The Act makes official information held by local authorities more freely available.
Allows for effective participation by the public in actions and decisions of the local authority.
Promotes open and public transaction of business of the council.
Promotes the accountability of council members and staff.
Protects information where it is in the public interest and for personal privacy.

How to request official information | Withholding information | Charging for information | Ways of providing information | Your options

How to request official information

Anyone can request information. The request can be written or oral and can be made:

We have to provide reasonable assistance to anyone who wishes to make a request. Please make sure that your request has the following:

your name
postal address or e-mail address
what information you are requesting (clearly specify).

Send a request to:

Official Information
Democracy Services
Auckland City Council
Private Bag 92516
Wellesley Street, Auckland

E-mail: officialinformation@aucklandcity.govt.nz.

Urgent request

You may ask that your request be treated as urgent. In such cases, we require reasons for seeking the information urgently.

We will try to process the request as soon as possible.

Timing

We will acknowledge your request as soon as possible.

We will decide whether the request will be granted or not as soon as practicable and no later than 20 working days after we receive the request.

Extension of time limits

If we receive a request that relates to a large quantity of information and meeting the original time limit is not possible as it would compromise the quality of information provided, we can extend the time limit set out.

Withholding information

Reasons for withholding

We may withhold official information for specific reasons stated under the Act.

The reason to withhold must be consistent with the public interest and the preservation of personal privacy or interests of other parties who would be affected by the disclosure of the information.

For example, good reasons may exist for withholding information where making the official information available may:

prejudice the maintenance of the law
disclose the commercial information of a third party or a trade secret
endanger the health and safety of any person
protect the privacy of natural persons.

(Refer to Section 6, 7 and 8 of the LGOIMA)

Charging for information

If the reply is likely to take a significant amount of research or photocopying, council is entitled under the Act, to charge for the provision of the information.

Our charging policy details the amount that we may charge for the supply of information:

The first five (5) hours of time spent on fulfilling official information requests will be free; and thereafter a charge of $38 for each additional half hour;
Twenty (20) pages of free photocopying, thereafter a charge of 20c per page for photocopying.
All other charges incurred shall be fixed at an amount that recovers the actual costs involved. This includes:
- producing a document by computer or other like equipment
- reproducing a photograph, film, video or audio recording
- arranging for the applicant to hear or view an audio or visual recording
- providing a copy of any maps, plans etc.

We must write to the requester advising them of the cost of their request before we begin working on the request. The requester then has the option of proceeding, withdrawing or refining their request.

In accordance with section 13(4) of the Act, we may require that the whole or part of any charge be paid in advance.

Charges may be waived at the discretion of the General manager.

Ways of providing information

You may stipulate your preferred method for receiving the information (e.g. a meeting with staff, discussion in person or over the telephone, an electronic copy or hard copy).

Personal information

A request by a third party for information about another individual is a request in terms of the provisions of the LGOIMA.

We shall not disclose any official information to a public sector agency if the principal purpose for which that information is sought is for use in an information-matching programme.

Privacy Act 1993

The release of personal information about an individual to that individual is governed by the Privacy Act 1993.

The Privacy Act 1993 main purpose is the promotion and protection of individual privacy. The principles of the Act also give individuals the right to access personal information and to request correction of it.

Transfer of your request

If we do not hold the information to a request but another agency or organisation does, we will transfer your request to that agency or organisation.

We will advise you of the transfer of your request within 10 working days from the day on which we received the request.

Your options

You can contact us

to clarify information provided to you
to request further information
if you require new or additional information (then we will consider this as a new request).

If you are not happy with the information we provided, you have the right to complain to the Office of the Ombudsmen.

If you have any questions regarding the process for official information requests please contact us.

Updated February 2008