Section 63F - Offence to obstruct, mislead or provide false information
Extract of legislation
| 63F | Offence to obstruct, mislead or provide false information | ||
| (1) | A person must not, without reasonable excuse, wilfully obstruct, hinder or resist the Information Commissioner, the Public Access Deputy Commissioner, a delegate of the Information Commissioner or the Public Access Deputy Commissioner or a member of staff of the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner, in— | ||
| (a) | performing, or attempting to perform, a function or duty under this Act; or | ||
| (b) | exercising, or attempting to exercise, a power under this Act. | ||
| Penalty: 60 penalty units. | |||
| (2) | A person must not, without reasonable excuse, provide information or make a statement to the Information Commissioner, the Public Access Deputy Commissioner, a delegate of the Information Commissioner or the Public Access Deputy Commissioner, or a member of staff of the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner knowing that it is false or misleading in a material particular. | ||
| Penalty: 60 penalty units. | |||
| (3) | A person must not, without reasonable excuse, mislead or attempt to mislead the Information Commissioner, the Public Access Deputy Commissioner, a delegate of the Information Commissioner or the Public Access Deputy Commissioner, or a member of staff of the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner. | ||
| Penalty: 60 penalty units. | |||
Relevant FOI Professional Standards
| Professional Standard 10.1 | An agency must assist the Information Commissioner or Public Access Deputy Commissioner in their attempt to informally resolve a review or complaint. |
| Professional Standard 10.2 | An agency must give consideration to a preliminary view issued by, or on behalf of, the Information Commissioner or Public Access Deputy Commissioner during a review. |
| Professional Standard 10.3 | An agency must respond to a request for documents and information by, or on behalf of, the Information Commissioner or Public Access Deputy Commissioner within requested or agreed timeframes. |
| Professional Standard 10.4 | When providing documents subject to review by the Information Commissioner or Public Access Deputy Commissioner, an agency must markup documents clearly and legibly to indicate exempt matter and the applicable exemption or exemptions.
Note: section 5 of the Act defines ‘exempt matter’ to mean matter the inclusion of which in a document causes the document to be an exempt document. |
Section 63F helps to ensure that the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner (OVIC) may efficiently and effectively perform functions and duties, and exercise powers, under the Act. It does this by making it an offence (attracting a penalty) for a person to:
- wilfully obstruct, hinder or resist;
- knowingly provide untrue or misleading information to;
- knowingly make an untrue or misleading statement to;
- mislead or try to mislead;
the Information Commissioner, Public Access Deputy Commissioner, a delegate of the Commissioners or an OVIC staff member.
This is unless the person has a reasonable excuse.
Agencies and Ministers are encouraged to be forthcoming and assist OVIC where possible.
Agencies and Ministers also have a positive obligation in section 49I to help the Information Commissioner to undertake a review.
Similarly, agencies must help the Information Commissioner under the Professional Standards such as by:
- helping to informally resolve a review or complaint;
- considering a preliminary view from OVIC;
- responding to a request for documents or information from OVIC within requested or agreed timeframes; and
- when providing documents subject to review, marking up documents clearly and legibly to show exempt matter and the exemptions that apply.2
More information
For more information on helping OVIC to undertake a review, see section 49I – Agency or Minister must assist Information Commissioner.
- FOI Professional Standards 10.1 to 10.4.
- FOI Professional Standards 10.1 to 10.4.
