If an authority declines to comply with a request for information by relying on an exemption its response to the applicant must meet the requirements of section 17 of the FOI Act.
This requires that the authority gives the applicant a notice which:
This requirement reinforces the importance of the quality of the decision making process when applying exemptions. Failure to analyse and articulate a decision to claim any exemption puts at risk the prospect of successfully defending that decision against challenge. It may also constitute a failure to comply with the requirements of section 17.
There is a narrow, but important, limitation on the duty to give reasons for withholding information requested under the FOI Act.
Section 17(4) provides that it is not necessary to say why an exemption applies or why the public interest balance comes down against disclosure if to do so would itself involve the disclosure of exempt information.