BSI BIP 0001 - Document Management Legal Admissibility
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (or the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002) was fully implemented on the 1st January 2005. It was implemented as part of the 'Open Government' initiative, and requires public bodies to respond positively to requests for information from individuals. The Act specifies the maximum time that the public body has to respond to a request (typically 20 working days), and also sets out a charging mechanism.
Whilst it appears that the Act is only relevant to public authorities, private companies may also be affected. This is because the Act states that information is held by a public authority if:
Thus, if you are a public sector organisation, or if you are a private company working with a public sector body, then you will be affected by the Freedom of Information Act. You need to organise the information that you hold in such a way that requests for the information can be answered within 20 working days. You will also need to have a mechanism for dealing with requests for information, and for (should you not wish to disclose the requested information) applying relevant exemptions in a fair (and often with due regard to the 'public interest') manner. You will also need a complaints procedure, should the requestor not be happy with the information (or lack of information) that you disclose.
Document management systems can help reduce the pain of dealing with an information request, and it can also manage the requests as part of your business processes.
