PART 6 - General Provisions

Delegation by the head of a public body

66. (1) The head of a public body may delegate to any person any duty, power or function of the head of the public body under this Act, except the power to delegate under this section.

(2) A delegation under subsection (1) must be in writing and may contain any conditions or restrictions the head of the public body considers appropriate.

(3) This section does not apply to a local public body.

Consultative committee

67. The minister responsible for this Act may establish a consultative committee to make recommendations to the minister about the operation of this Act.

Annual report of minister

68. The minister responsible for this Act must prepare an annual report on its administration and lay the report before the Legislative Assembly as soon as possible.

Freedom of information directory

69. (1) The minister responsible for this Act must publish a directory to assist in identifying and locating records.

(2) The directory must include

(a) a description of the mandate and functions of each public body and its components,

(b) a description of the records in the custody or under the control of each public body,

(b.1) a list of the records in the custody or under the control of the public body,

(c) a subject index, and

(d) the title, business address and business telephone number of the head of the public body.

(3) The directory must include, for each personal information bank, the following:

(a) its title and location;

(b) a description of the kind of personal information and the categories of individuals whose personal information is included;

(c) the authority for collecting the personal information;

(d) the purposes for which the personal information was obtained or compiled and the purposes for which it is used or disclosed;

(e) the categories of persons who use the personal information or to whom it is disclosed.

(4) If personal information is used or disclosed by a public body for a purpose that is not included in the directory published under subsection (1), the head of the public body must

(a) keep a record of the purpose and either attach or link the record to the personal information,

(b) promptly notify the minister responsible for this Act of the purpose, and

(c) ensure that the purpose is included in the next publication of the directory.

(4.1) Subsections (2) (b.1), (3) and (4) do not apply in respect of a local public body.

(4.2) The head of a local public body must make available for inspection and copying by the public a directory that lists the local public body's personal information banks and includes, for each bank, the information specified in subsection (3) (a) to (c).

(5) The minister responsible for this Act must

(a) provide copies of the directory to public bodies and to public libraries and other prescribed libraries in British Columbia, and

(b) publish and distribute, at intervals of 2 years or less, supplements or replacements to keep the directory up to date.

(6) The head of a public body must ensure that copies provided under subsection (5) are available to the public at an office of the public body.

Policy manuals available without request

70. (1) The head of a public body must make available to the public, without a request for access under this Act,

(a) manuals, instructions or guidelines issued to the officers or employees of the public body, or

(b) substantive rules or policy statements adopted by the public body, for the purpose of interpreting an enactment or of administering a program or activity that affects the public or a specific group of the public.

(2) The head of a public body may delete from a record made available under this section any information he or she would be entitled to refuse to disclose to an applicant.

(3) If information is deleted, the record must include a statement of

(a) the fact that information has been deleted,

(b) the nature of the information, and

(c) the reason for the deletion.

(4) If a person asks for a copy of a record under this section, section 71(2) applies.

Records available without request

71. (1) The head of a public body may prescribe categories of records that are in the custody or under the control of the public body and are available to the public, on demand, without a request for access under this Act.

(2) The head of a public body may require a person who asks for a copy of an available record to pay a fee to the public body.

(3) Subsection (1) does not limit the discretion of the government of British Columbia or a public body to release records that do not contain personal information.

Public record index

72. (1) To assist in disseminating information to the public, the minister responsible for this Act must publish annually an index of records that are available to the public under section 71.

(2) The index must include, for each category of records prescribed by the head of a public body under section 71, the following:

(a) a description of the mandate and functions of the public body;

(b) a description of all records in that category produced or obtained by the public body during the past 12 months;

(c) the location of the records;

(d) the title, business address and business telephone number of an officer or employee of the public body who can answer questions about the records.

(3) The minister responsible for this Act must provide copies of the index to public bodies and to public libraries and other prescribed libraries in British Columbia.

(4) The head of a public body must ensure that copies provided under subsection (3) are available to the public at an office of the public body.

Protection of public body from legal suit

73. No action lies and no proceeding may be brought against the Crown, a public body, the head of a public body, an elected official of a public body or any person acting on behalf of or under the direction of the head of a public body for damages resulting from

(a) the disclosure, or failure to disclose, in good faith of all or part of a record under this Act or any consequences of that disclosure or failure to disclose, or

(b) the failure to give any notice required under this Act if reasonable care is taken to give the required notice.

Offences and penalties

74. (1) A person must not wilfully

(a) make a false statement to, or mislead or attempt to mislead, the commissioner or another person in the performance of the duties, powers or functions of the commissioner or other person under this Act,

(b) obstruct the commissioner or another person in the performance of the duties, powers or functions of the commissioner or other person under this Act, or

(c) fail to comply with an order made by the commissioner under section 58 or by an adjudicator under section 65(2).

(2) A person who contravenes subsection (1) commits an offence and is liable to a fine of up to $5 000.

(3) Section 5 of the Offence Act [?]

Fees

75. (1) The head of a public body may require an applicant who makes a request under section 5 to pay to the public body fees for the following services:

(a) locating, retrieving and producing the record;

(b) preparing the record for disclosure;

(c) shipping and handling the record;

(d) providing a copy of the record.

(2) An applicant must not be required under subsection (1) to pay a fee for

(a) the first 3 hours spent locating and retrieving a record, or

(b) time spent severing information from a record.

(3) Subsection (1) does not apply to a request for the applicant's own personal information.

(4) If an applicant is required to pay fees for services under subsection (1), the public body must give the applicant an estimate of the total fee before providing the services.

(5) The head of a public body may excuse an applicant from paying all or part of a fee if, in the head's opinion,

(a) the applicant cannot afford the payment or for any other reason it is fair to excuse payment, or

(b) the record relates to a matter of public interest, including the environment or public health or safety. [Order 13]

[Order 30]

(6) The fees that prescribed categories of applicants are required to pay for services under subsection (1) may differ from the fees other applicants are required to pay for them, but may not exceed the actual costs of the services.

Power to make regulations

76. (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations

(a) prescribing procedures to be followed in making, transferring and responding to requests under this Act,

(b) permitting prescribed categories of applicants to make requests under this Act orally instead of in writing,

(c) setting standards, including time limits, to be observed by officers or employees of a public body in fulfilling the duty to assist applicants,

(d) prescribing for the purposes of section 18 the categories of sites that are considered to have heritage or anthropological value,

(e) authorizing the disclosure of information relating to the mental or physical health of individuals to medical or other experts to determine, for the purposes of section 19, if disclosure of that information could reasonably be expected to result in grave and immediate harm to the safety of or the mental or physical health of those individuals,

(f) prescribing procedures to be followed or restrictions considered necessary with respect to the disclosure and examination of information referred to in paragraph (e),

(g) prescribing special procedures for giving individuals access to personal information about their mental or physical health,

(h) prescribing the classes of individuals who may act for minors, incompetents, deceased persons or any other individuals under this Act and regulating the manner in which, and the extent to which, any rights or powers of individuals under this Act may be exercised on their behalf,

(i) requiring public bodies to provide to the minister responsible for this Act information that relates to its administration or is required for preparing the minister's annual report, the freedom of information directory or the public record index,

(j) limiting the fees that different categories of persons are required to pay under this Act,

(k) exempting any class of public body from a regulation made under this subsection,

(l) authorizing, for the purposes of section 12.1, a local public body to hold meetings of its elected officials, or of its governing body or a committee of the governing body, to consider specified matters in the absence of the public unless another Act

(i) expressly authorizes the local public body to hold meetings in the absence of the public, and

(ii) specifies the matters that may be discussed at those meetings,

(m) providing for the retention and disposal of records by a public body if the Document Disposal Act does not apply to the public body, and

(n) for any purpose contemplated by this Act.

(2) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may amend, by regulation, Schedule 2

(a) to add to it any agency, board, commission or other body

(i) any member of which is appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council or a minister,

(ii) a controlling interest in the share capital of which is owned by the government of British Columbia or any of its agencies, or

(iii) that performs functions under an enactment, and

(b) to designate or change the designation of the head of a public body.

(3) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may amend, by regulation, Schedule 3 to add to it the name of the governing body of a profession or occupation if

(a) any member of that body is appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council, a minister or an Act, or

(b) the profession or occupation is governed under an Act.

(4) A regulation made under subsection (1) may provide differently for different classes of public bodies.

Power to make bylaws

76.1 A local public body, by bylaw or other legal instrument by which the local public body acts,

(a) must designate a person or group of persons as the head of the local public body for the purposes of this Act,

(b) may authorize any person to perform any duty or exercise any function under this Act of the person or group of persons designated as the head of the local public body, and

(c) may set any fees the local public body requires to be paid under section 75.

Appropriation

77. In the absence of an appropriation for the purpose under another Act, expenditures incurred in connection with the administration of this Act may be paid out of the consolidated revenue fund.

Interim relationship to other Acts

78. (1) The head of a public body must refuse to disclose information to an applicant if the disclosure is prohibited or restricted by or under another Act. [Order 7, Order 37]

(2) If a provision of this Act is inconsistent or in conflict with a provision of another Act, the provision of this Act prevails unless the other Act expressly provides that it, or a provision of it, applies despite this Act.

(3) Subsection (1) is repealed 2 years after section 4 comes into force.

Review of Act

79. A special committee of the Legislative Assembly must begin a comprehensive review of this Act within 4 years after section 4 comes into force and must submit to the Legislative Assembly, within one year after beginning the review, a report that includes any amendments recommended by the committee.

Right to disclose preserved

79.1 A public body that, before the date section 33 of this Act comes into force, disclosed names, addresses and drivers' licence numbers to the Tuberculous and Chest Disabled Veterans' Association may continue, despite that section, to disclose that information to the association if it undertakes not to use the information except for the purposes for which it used that information before that date.

Consequential Amendment [Bill 50]

Coroners Act

80. The Coroners Act, R.S.B.C. 1979, c. 68, is amended by adding the following section:

Disclosure of information

52.1 Notwithstanding the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, before an inquiry or inquest is completed the coroner may refuse to disclose any information collected in the course of fulfilling the coroner's duties with respect to the inquiry or inquest.

Commencement [Bill 50]

81. (1) This Act, except section 78(2), comes into force by regulation of the Lieutenant Governor in Council.

(2) Section 78(2) comes into force 2 years after section 4 comes into force.

Consequential Amendments [Bill 62]

Insurance (Motor Vehicle) Act

[30.] Section 11 of the Insurance (Motor Vehicle) Act, R.S.B.C. 1979, c.204 is repealed.

Legal Profession Act

[31.] Section 57(1) of the Legal Profession Act, S.B.C. 1987, c.25, is amended

(a) in subsection (1) by striking out "A person" and substituting "Notwithstanding section 14 of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, a person",

(b) in subsection (6) by striking out "The benchers" and substituting "Notwithstanding section 14 of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the benchers" and

(c) by adding the following subsection:

(7) Section 47(4) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act does not apply to information that, but for the provisions of this Act and the production of the information to the commissioner under that Act, would be subject to solicitor and client privilege.

Medical and Health Care Services Act

[32.] Section 43 of the Medical and Health Care Services Act, S.B.C. 1992, c.76, is amended by striking out "or" at the end of paragraph (b), by adding "or" at the end of paragraph (c) and by adding the following paragraph:

(d) in accordance with section 35 of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

Commencement [Bill 62]

[33.] This Act comes into force by regulation of the Lieutenant Governor in Council.