Citizen services
Ask the state a question, and keep the clock.
Anyone may ask a public authority for its records. The Act gives them thirty days to answer. Counting those days, knowing which section applies when the answer is late, and knowing what to do next is the part that usually gets left to you.
- 30 days
- for a replySection 7(1)
- 45 days
- to decide an appealSection 19(6)
- 90 days
- to reach the CommissionSection 19(3)
The route
Every way this can go
4 stages, each with the period the Act allows and whose move it is. Select any node to see the section that applies.
Already answered
Read one before you file one
How the guided path works
Five agents, and not one of them decides anything
Each has a single job, its own prompt and its own output schema, and each falls back to plain rules when the model cannot be reached, so filing never depends on a model being up. They rank, draft, explain and count. You decide, you sign, and the request is yours, which is the only arrangement the Act allows.
Reads your question and works out which public authority holds the record, central or state.
File anything, or move a request to another authority without asking you first.
What people get wrong
Three things that put people off asking
“They will want to know why I am asking.”
Section 6(2)No reason may be required of you.
The Act forbids anyone asking your reason for wanting the information, or any detail about you beyond how to reach you. If a form asks, the form is wrong.
“If they ignore it, there is nothing I can do.”
Section 7(2)Silence is a refusal, and it unlocks the appeal.
A missed deadline counts as a refusal, so you are not left waiting indefinitely. Under section 7(6) the information must then be given free of charge, so lateness cannot be turned into a bill.
“If I send it to the wrong office, I lose my fee.”
Section 6(3)They have to pass it on within five days.
A misdirected request is transferred, not returned. You do not file again and you do not pay twice.
Nothing hidden
What this service has done so far
Section 25 asks every public authority to publish what it received and what it refused. A service built around the Act should hold itself to the same test, so these are computed from the request log rather than compiled by hand.
The full annual report- Requests filed
- 53
- Answered
- 3
- Published for anyone to read
- 6
- Median reply
- 22 days