Freedom of
Information (Jersey Heritage Trust) (Jersey) Regulations 2014
Made 25th November 2014
Coming into force in
accordance with Regulation 7
THE STATES, in pursuance of Articles 17 and 53 of the Freedom of Information
(Jersey) Law 2011[1], have made the following
Regulations –
1 Interpretation
(1) In
these Regulations –
“access rights” has the meaning
in Regulation 3(1);
“commencement date” means the date that the Freedom of
Information Law comes into force;
“Freedom of Information Law”
means the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011[2];
“exempt record” means a record or part of a record
which a public institution has indicated comprises absolutely exempt
information or qualified exempt information in accordance with Regulation 2;
“non-exempt record”
means a record or part of a record transferred to the Trust as described in Regulation 2
and in respect of which no indication has been given in accordance with Regulation 2
that the record or part of the record contains exempt or qualified exempt
information;
“Public Records Law”
means the Public Records (Jersey) Law 2002[3];
“request”
means a request that fulfils the requirements of sub-paragraphs (a) to (d)
of Article 2(1) of the Freedom of Information Law;
“transferring institution”
means, in relation to a public record, the public institution which transfers
or transferred that record to the Trust under Article 20 of the Public
Records Law.
(2) Words
and expressions used in these Regulations which are defined in the Public
Records Law have the same meaning as in that Law.
2 Transfer
of public records to the Trust by a scheduled public authority
(1) If a
public institution which is a scheduled public authority transfers a public
record to the Trust under Article 20 of the Public Records Law on or after
the commencement date, it shall indicate to the Archivist upon transfer whether
the record contains absolutely exempt information or qualified exempt
information.
(2) If
the record partly contains absolutely exempt information or qualified exempt
information, the public institution shall indicate which part of the record
contains such information.
3 Availability
of non-exempt records on request
(1) A
person who makes a request to the Trust for a non-exempt record is entitled –
(a) to have a reasonable opportunity to examine the record, or to
take an extract or copy of it, in a form appropriate to the medium of the record;
and
(b) to be supplied with an extract or copy of the record (in a
form appropriate to the medium of the record),
such rights being
referred to in these Regulations as “access rights”.
(2) If
a person wishes to exercise access rights in a particular form or manner, he or
she may exercise those rights in that form or manner unless the Archivist
refuses to allow such exercise because –
(a) it would interfere unreasonably with the operations of the
Archivist;
(b) it would not be appropriate to the medium of the record; or
(c) it would be detrimental to the preservation of the record.
(3) A
person who is supplied with an extract or copy of a record in accordance with paragraph (1)
may be required by the Archivist to pay a reasonable fee for such extract or
copy.
(4) The
Archivist may make exercise of access rights subject to such conditions as he
or she may determine either generally or in any particular case in order to
promote the preservation of the record.
(5) The
Archivist may refuse to allow a person to exercise access rights, or cut short
the exercise of such rights, if such a person does not comply with any
condition under paragraph (4) to which such exercise is subject.
4 Procedure
for exempt records
(1) If
a person makes a request to the Trust for an exempt record, the Trust shall
pass the request to the transferring institution within 5 working days.
(2) Upon
receipt of the request, the transferring institution shall respond to the
request in accordance with the Freedom of Information Law as if –
(a) the request had been made to it directly;
(b) the date of the request to it was the date that the request
was passed to it by the Trust;
(c) where appropriate, references in that Law to whether or not
the authority holds information included the holding of the exempt record by
the Trust.
(3) The
Trust shall make the exempt record in its original form available to the
transferring institution in order to enable it to respond to the request.
5 Transfer
of public records to the Trust by other public institutions
(1) If
a public institution which is not a scheduled public authority transfers a
public record to the Trust under Article 20 of the Public Records Law on
or after the commencement date, the public institution may indicate to the
Archivist that the record, or part of the record, may be treated as if it were a
non-exempt record.
(2) If
a transferring institution makes an indication as described in paragraph (1),
a person who makes a request to the Trust for that record shall be entitled to
exercise access rights in respect of that record, or part of that record, in accordance
with Regulation 3.
(3) If
a transferring institution does not make an indication as described in paragraph (1)
and a person makes a request to the Trust for that record, the Trust shall –
(a) pass the request to the transferring institution within
5 working days of receiving the request; and
(b) make the record, or part of the record, available to the
transferring institution it is original form in order to enable the
transferring institution to respond to the request.
6 Public
records transferred to the Trust before the commencement date
(1) This
Regulation applies in relation to a public record that is transferred to the
Trust under Article 20 of the Public Records Law by a public institution before
the commencement date.
(2) If,
immediately before the commencement date –
(a) such
a public record or part of a public record would have been available for public
access under Part 5 of the Public Records Law; and
(b) a person makes a request to the Trust for that record,
such record or part of the record will be treated as if it were a
non-exempt record and the person shall be entitled to exercise access rights in
respect of that record or part of the record in accordance with Regulation 3.
(3) If –
(a) immediately
before the commencement date, such a public record or part of a public record
would not have been available for public access under Part 5 of the Public
Records Law; and
(b) the transferring institution is a scheduled public authority
and a person makes a request to the Trust for that record,
such record or part
of record shall be treated as if it were an exempt record and the procedure in Regulation 4
shall apply to the request.
(4) If –
(a) immediately
before the commencement date, such a public record or part of a public record
would not have been available for public access under Part 5 of the Public
Records Law; and
(b) the transferring institution is not a scheduled public
authority and a person makes a request to the Trust for that record,
the Trust shall pass the request to the transferring institution
within 5 working days of receiving the request and the Trust shall make
the record, or part of the record, available to the transferring institution in
its original form in order to enable the transferring institution to respond to
the request.
7 Citation
and commencement
These Regulations may be cited as the Freedom of Information (Jersey
Heritage Trust) (Jersey) Regulations 2014 and shall come into force on the
same date that the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011[4] comes into force.
L.-M. HART
Deputy Greffier of the States