2 CAP. 496.] FREEDOM OF INFORMATION PART I PRELIMINARY AND DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES Short title and commencement. 1. Act. (1) The short title of this Act is Freedom of Information (2) This Act shall come into force on such a date as the Minister may by notice in the Gazette appoint, and different dates may be so appointed for different provisions or different purposes of this Act. Interpretation. 2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires: "applicant" means, in relation to a request for the disclosure of a document in accordance with article 3, the person who made that request; Cap. 440. "Commissioner" means the Information and Data Protection Commissioner appointed in term s of article 36 of the Data Protection Act; "decision notice" has the meaning given by article 23; "document" means any article that is held by a public authority and on which information has been recorded in whatever form, including electronic data, images, scale models and other visual representations, and audio or video recordings, regardless of whether the information can be read, seen, heard or retrieved with or without the aid of any other article or device; "eligible person" means a person who is resident in Malta and who has been so resident in Malta for a period of at least five years, and who is either a citizen of Malta or a citizen of any other member state of the European Union or a citizen of any other state the citizens of which have a right, in virtue of any treaty between such state and the European Union, to be treated in Malta in the same manner as citizens of member states of the European Union; "enforcement notice" has the meaning given by article 25; Cap. 460. "European Union" has the meaning given by the European Union Act; "exempt document" means a document which is not subject to disclosure under this Act in accordance with Parts V and VI; "exempt matter" means matter the inclusion of which in a document causes the document to be an exempt document; "information notice" has the meaning given by article 24; "Minister" means the Minister responsible for freedom of information and data protection; Cap. 497. "Principal Permanent Secretary" means the officer appointed in terms of article 14 of the Public Administration Act; "public authority" means: (a) the Government, including any ministry or department thereof;