without first giving the applicant a reasonable opportumty of consultation with the Ministry or prescribed
authority with a view to the making of a request in a form that would remove the ground for refusal.
Transfer of request
13.-(1) Where(a) a request is made to a Ministry or prescribed authority for access to a document; and
(b) the document is not in the possession ot that Ministry or prescribed authority but is in the
possession of another Ministry or prescribed authority or the subject-matter of the document is
more closely connected with the functions of another Ministry or prescribed authority than with
those of the Ministry or prescribed authority to which the request is made,
the Ministry or prescribed authority to which the request is made may transfer the request to the other
Ministry or prescribed authority and inform the person making the request accordingly and, if it is
necessary to do so in order to enable the other Ministry or prescribed authority to deal with the request,
send the document to the other Ministry or prescribed authority.
(2) Where a request is transferred to a Ministry or prescribed authority in accordance with this section, it
shall be deemed to be a request made to that Ministry or prescribed authority and received at the time at
which it was originally received.
Request involving use of computers, etc.
14.-(1) Where(a) a request (including a request of the kind described in subsection 12 (3)) is duly made to a
Ministry or prescribed authority;
(b) it appears from the request that the desire of the applicant is for information that is not available
in discrete form in documents of the Ministry or prescribed authority; and
(c) the Ministry or prescribed authority could produce a written document containing the
information in discrete form by(i) the use of a computer or other equipment that is ordinarily available to the Ministry or
prescribed authority for retrieving or collating stored information; or
(ii) the making of a transcript from a sound recording held in the Ministry or prescribed
authority,
the Ministry or prescribed authority shall deal with the request as if it were a request for access to a
written document so produced and containing that information and, for that purpose, this Act applies as if
the Ministry or prescribed authority had such a document in its possession.
(2) A Ministry or prescribed authority is not required to comply with subsection (1) if compliance would
interfere unreasonably with the operations of the Ministry or prescribed authority.
Access to document to be given on request
15.-(1) Where a request for access to a document is duly made, and payment is made of any charge
that is required to be paid before access is granted, access to the document shall be given in
accordance with this Act.