Section 15 - Documents in the Public Record Office

The Act applies to documents that are in the Public Record Office of Victoria’s (PROV) possession, except for documents available for public inspection in PROV.²

Documents that are transferred by an agency and held by PROV are taken to be held by the transferring agency, even though PROV physically holds the transferred documents.⁵

This means an agency that transfers a document to PROV, or a place of deposit, is responsible for handling requests for access for the transferred document because it is a document in the possession of the agency (unless the document is available for public inspection at PROV).⁶

If an agency no longer exists, the agency whose functions most closely relate to the document will be taken to have possession of the document.

Section 15(6) applies to a ‘place of deposit’. A ‘place of deposit’ is a facility or area authorised by the Keeper of Public Records to store State archives on its behalf. These facilities or areas must have been appointed by the Minister as a place of deposit for temporary records.⁸

Section 15(6) applies where an agency has transferred a document to a place of deposit. The transferring agency (or, if that agency no longer exists, the agency whose functions most closely relate to the document) is taken to be in possession of the document and must handle requests for access for the document.

Even if a document was placed in the custody of PROV or place of deposit before the Act commenced, section 15 still applies and the document is taken to be in the agency’s possession.¹⁰

The Public Records Act does not prevent a person from obtaining access to a document in PROV’s custody in accordance with the FOI Act.¹²