In accordance with section 8(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (the FOI Act), Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has prepared an Information Publication Scheme (IPS) Agency Plan.
Purpose
This plan will:
- help FSANZ plan and develop its contribution to the IPS
- detail what information will be published and how, and how FSANZ will comply with the IPS.
IPS requirements
The IPS requires FSANZ to:
- effectively and efficiently manage any information relevant to the IPS
- identify all information that has to be published under the IPS and any additional information that can appropriately be published as its 'optional information'
- ensure online content conforms with the Government's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (V2)
- regularly review information published under the IPS to ensure it remains complete accurate and up-to-date
- ensure information published under the IPS is discoverable, searchable, understandable and reusable
- develop ways to measure the success of FSANZ's IPS.
This plan details how we meet these requirements.
Implementing the Information Publication Scheme
SES responsibility for the IPS
FSANZ's General Manager Food Safety and Regulatory Affairs, with assistance from the Manager, Communications, oversees the implementation of the IPS.
How information can be accessed on the FSANZ website
The IPS page will provide links and information about where to find documents. The FOI disclosure log will also be available from the IPS page.
FOI disclosure log
The disclosure log provides access* to documents disclosed by FSANZ as a result of an FOI request by listing summary information such as title, date of release, including number of pages and descriptions of the types of documents released. The publication of this information is in accordance with section 11C of the FOI Act.
*the term 'access' can mean that the document/s are either available on the website or that they are available by using contact information provided on the website.
Operational information
Operational information used by FSANZ in its decision-making process is published on the FSANZ website.
Contact us to provide feedback on FSANZ's Agency Plan.
Agency structure
View our organisation chart for details about FSANZ structure and the agency.
Statutory appointments
FSANZ Board members are statutory appointments.
Reviewing our information
We will try to publish as much information as possible, consistent with the objectives of the FOI Act. Our publication practices must, however, be balanced against an obligation to respect and maintain confidential commercial information (CCI) and personal information.
FSANZ often deals with highly sensitive personal and commercial information. This type of information will only be published when the public interest test applies or consent is provided by the owner of the information. The public and stakeholders should remain confident that any CCI and/or personal information FSANZ possesses will be protected from release when it is appropriate to do this.
FSANZ will ensure documents published can be found easily and are searchable. FSANZs website has user-friendly navigation and an easy to find search function. FSANZ will add a link to the IPS page and disclosure log on the home page of the website.
FSANZ will publish on its website a list of any IPS documents that are impracticable to publish online. The website will state that a person seeking access to any of these documents may contact FSANZ to arrange access.
FSANZ encourages people to print copies of required documents, if they are available for download on the FSANZ website, rather than asking FSANZ to do so. FSANZ will impose a charge when we are asked to print a large number of documents. This is consistent with charges in the Freedom of Information (Charges) Regulations 1982, which generally apply to access requests, under Part III of the FOI Act.
Information architecture
FSANZ will publish documents on its website. If it is not possible to publish documents we will advise how the information can be obtained. Wherever possible, FSANZ will provide online content in a format that can be searched, copied and transformed.
FSANZ will, as far as possible, make its information available for reuse on open licensing terms.
Information publication requirements
FSANZ will publish all documents required under sections 8, 8(A), 8(C) and 8(D) of the FOI Act. This includes information about FSANZs functions, decision making powers and operational information including rules, guidelines, practices and precedents that assist the agency make decisions or recommendations affecting the public.
What we will publish
- Agency plan (s 8(2)(a))
- Organisational chart (s 8(2)(b))
- Statutory appointments (s 8(2)(d))
- What we do (s 8(2)(c))
- Who are we (s 8(2)c))
- Decision making powers (s 8(2)(c))
- Annual reports (s 8(2)(e))
- Information released pursuant to FOI requests (Disclosure Log) (s 8(2)(g))
- Consultation documentation (s8(2)(f))
- Operational information (s 8(2)(j))
- Contact information (s 8(2)(i))
The agencys functions and decision making powers
- Roles
- Legislation
- Policy
- Reviews
Information provided to Parliament
- Contracts
- File Lists
- Grants reporting
- Discretionary Grants
- Publications, Statistics & Resources
Optional information
Taking into account the objects of the FOI Act (s 8(4)), FSANZ will publish on the website as much information as possible to comply with the FOI Act and in the interests of full disclosure (in addition to the information published under s 8(2)).
Administering the agency IPS
FSANZ will publish information to its full capacity. FSANZ will be as proactive as possible in publishing both optional and operational information. In order to comply with the reforms, FSANZ will initially publish all mandated information. FSANZs objective is to publish all possible information in the interests of full disclosure of the documents used by the department in its functions and decision-making.
In line with the guidelines published by the OAIC, FSANZ will regularly update and maintain the information framework and be prepared for the OAICs audit in the 5 year review period.
Review
FSANZ will ensure that all information is accurate and up to date at the time of publication.
All line areas will be responsible for auditing their operational documentation. FSANZ will endeavour to maintain an accurate register of information.
FSANZs objective is to ensure transparency and openness with the public in its decision making processes. FSANZ will ensure that comments made by the public, in relation to this Agency Plan will be taken into account and the plan amended as appropriate.