Bell and Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organisation (CSIRO) [2007] AATA 1569; (2007) 96 ALD 450; (2007) 46 AAR 1 (20 July 2007)
[2007] AATA 1569
At a glance
Source factsCourt
Administrative Appeals Tribunal of Australia
Decision date
2007-07-20
Before
Legislation Amendment J
Catchwords
- _**
Source
Original judgment source is linked above.
Catchwords
Judgment (475 paragraphs)
The applicant, Mr Malcolm Neil Bell, asked the respondent, the Commonwealth Scientific and Research Organisation (CSIRO), for access to a range of documents concerning wireless or LAN networks dated between 1 January 1976 and 27 November 1993. He made his request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act). The CSIRO identified eight documents as coming within Mr Bell's request but refused it on the basis that it is exempt from the operation of the FOI Act as they are documents in respect of its commercial affairs. That exemption arises as a result of the provisions of s 7 and Part II of Schedule 2 of the legislation. I agree with the CSIRO's decision in relation to all but the third part of document one. That document is a document in respect of the CSIRO's commercial activities but, on the evidence I have, is not a document in relation to a document in respect of its commercial activities as required by the way in which s 7 and Part II of Schedule 2 have been interpreted by the Federal Court in Australian Broadcasting Commission v The University of Technology, Sydney.[1]