| 1. | POLICY STATEMENT |
| This Routine Access Policy for the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries is designed to provide persons with an opportunity to obtain certain categories of records without having to submit a Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPOP) application. It shall be administered in accordance with the following principles: |
| a. | Personal Privacy |
| Records containing the personal information of third parties as defined in the FOIPOP Act shall not be disclosed by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (Department) outside the FOIPOP Act, unless the personal information has been severed. |
| b. | Timeliness |
| The Department shall respond to any routine access requests in a reasonable and timely fashion. |
| c. | Cost Recovery |
| At the discretion of the Department, a photocopying fee may be charged. Fees for the reproduction and provision of records may be charged where authorized by policies, regulations, or statutes. |
| d. | Transparency |
| This policy shall be made available to the public through the Department's World Wide Web site or in any other acceptable format. |
| e. | Reasonable or Reasonableness |
| This policy applies only to specific requests for reasonable quantities of records. |
| 2. | DEFINITIONS |
| a. | access means the provision of a copy of the record in question or providing a means and opportunity for the applicant to view the record, whichever, in the sole discretion of the Department, is administratively most efficient; |
| b. |
active dissemination is the periodic and proactive release of information or records using mechanisms such as the Internet, libraries, etc. See attached Schedule "A" for examples of actively disseminated information; |
| c. |
agreement means an agreement which contains a "consent to disclose" clause; |
| d. |
audits mean final audits of Department programs; |
| e. |
confidential information includes information
(a) that would reveal
(i) trade secrets of a third party; or
(ii) commercial, financial, labour relations,
scientific or technical information of a third party;
(b) that is supplied, implicitly or explicitly, in confidence;
and
(c) the disclosure of which could reasonably be expected
to
(i) harm significantly the competitive
position or interfere significantly with the negotiating
position of the third party;
(ii) result in similar information no
longer being supplied to the public body when it is
in the public interest that similar information continue
to be supplied;
(iii) result in undue financial loss or
gain to any person or organization; or
(iv) reveal information supplied to, or the report of, an arbitrator, mediator, labour relations officer or other person or body appointed to resolve or inquire into a labour-relations dispute; |
| f. |
designate means a Department employee assigned responsibility for administering this policy and processing requests under this policy; |
| g. |
FOIPOP access is the release of a record in response to a formal FOIPOP application made under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act; |
| h. |
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) means an MOU which contains a "consent to disclose" clause; |
| i. |
personal information means recorded information about an identifiable individual including the individual's name, address or telephone number; race, national or ethnic origin, colour or religious or political beliefs or associations; age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status or family status; an identifying number, symbol or other particular assigned to the individual; fingerprints, blood type or inheritable characteristics; the individual's health-care history; anyone else's opinions about the individual and the individual's personal views or opinions, except if they are about someone else; |
| j. |
policy means an approved policy under the mandate of the Department; |
| k. |
record "includes books, documents, maps, drawings, photographs, letters, vouchers, papers and any other thing on which information is recorded or stored by graphic, electronic, mechanical or other means, but does not include a computer program or any other mechanism that produces records". (clause 3(1) (k) FOIPOP Act); |
| l. |
routine access is the routine release, in full or in part, of certain types of administrative or operational records as a matter of course in response to a request, without the need for a formal application for records under the FOIPOP Act; and |
| m. |
routine inspection means an inspection conducted to ensure compliance with an enactment under the mandate of the Department that is carried out on a recurring basis such as annually or biannually and includes re-inspections carried out to ensure correction of deficiencies identified in a prior inspection. |
| 3. | POLICY OBJECTIVES |
| This policy reflects the spirit of openness and accountability of the FOIPOP Act. The objective is to provide a reasonable alternative for access to the records listed in Schedule "B". |
| 4. | APPLICATION |
| a. |
This policy applies to:
- all Department employees;
- Resources-Corporate Services Unit (RCSU)
- Finance, Human Resources
and Information Technology; and
- all agencies, boards, commissions reporting
to the Department and
defined as public bodies under the FOIPOP Act. |
| b. | This policy applies to records listed in Schedule "B". |
| c. | This policy is effective after October 23, 2003. |
| d. | A request under this policy applies only to the records listed in Schedule "B" that were created after October 23, 2003. |
| e. | This policy applies only to specific requests for reasonable quantities of records. Recurring requests by a person, whether for the same or different category of records that result in significant demands on the resources of the Department shall not be subject to the policy. It is important to ensure that the application of this policy not unduly interfere with the day-to-day operations of the Department. |
| f. | Personal and/or confidential information shall be severed from the records being accessed under this policy, using the same criteria and in the same manner as requests made under the FOIPOP Act. |
| g. | Nothing in this policy shall be taken to mean that the Department is required to create or maintain records that it would not normally have in its custody or control. |
| h. | This policy shall be consistent with the Government Records Act and policies under that Act. |
| 5. | POLICY DIRECTIVES |
| a. | The policy shall be posted on the Department's World Wide Web site or in any other acceptable format. |
| b. | All employees shall be advised of the policy coming into force. |
| c. |
Requests for information under this policy
shall be made to:
Routine Access Designate
Department of Agriculture and Fisheries
5151 George Street
Bank of Montreal Building, 7th Floor
P.O. Box 2223
Halifax, Nova Scotia
B3J 3C4
Telephone: 424-4560
Fax: 424-3948
E-mail: accessaf@gov.ns.ca
|
| d. | A tracking system shall be kept by the Designate. |
| 6. | POLICY GUIDELINES |
| a. |
Requests may be made in person, by phone, mail, fax or e-mail. |
| b. | A person making a request under this policy, shall be required to provide at least the following: name, contact information including mailing address, phone number and the specific reference to Schedule "B". |
| c. | Requests for records under this policy are to be made to the Designate. |
| d. | The Designate is responsible for reviewing the request, and determining if this policy applies to the request. |
| e. | If the policy applies to the request, the records shall be provided to the applicant within a reasonable period of time, and no later than 30 days from the receipt of the request. |
| f. | If the policy does not apply to the request, the Designate shall notify the requester promptly by phone, fax, e-mail or by mail and shall indicate what other avenues may be available to obtain the information, such as making an application under the FOIPOP Act. |
| g. | At the discretion of the Department, a photocopying fee may be charged at a rate of .20 cents per page. |
| 7. | ACCOUNTABILITY/EVALUATION |
| a. | The Deputy Minister shall be accountable for the implementation of this policy. |
| b. | The Executive Committee is responsible for the approval of this policy and the annual review and approval. |
| c. | Senior Management is responsible for ensuring that employees follow the policy directives, guidelines and procedures.
|
| d. | Employees are responsible to follow the policy directives, guidelines and procedures. |
| e. | The FOIPOP administrator is responsible for an annual evaluation of the policy.
|
| f. | The Designate is responsible for administering this policy and processing requests in a timely manner in accordance with the policy directives, guidelines and procedures. |
| 8. | COMPLIANCE |
| a. | The Department's FOIPOP Administrator shall be responsible for ensuring the compliance with this policy. |
| b. | This policy may be subject to an audit by the Department of Finance. |
| 9. | REFERENCES/AUTHORITY |
| |
This policy shall be read in conjunction
with the Freedom of Information and Protection of
Privacy Act.
Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy
Act
Government Records Act
Records Management Policy (government)
Department of Agriculture and Fisheries Records Management Policy |
| 10. | INQUIRIES |
| |
Routine Access Designate
Department of Agriculture and Fisheries
5151 George Street
Bank of Montreal Building, 7th Floor
P.O. Box 2223
Halifax, Nova Scotia
B3J 3C4
Telephone: 424-4560
Fax: 424-3948
E-mail: accessaf@gov.ns.ca
The Department's World Wide Web site is: http://www.gov.ns.ca/nsaf
The NSAC's World Wide Web site is: http://www.nsac.ns.ca |
| 11. | SCHEDULES |
| |
Schedule "A"
- Actively Disseminated Records
Schedule "B" - Routine Access Records |
