Legislation | Prime Minister´s Office 4 of 10 http://eng.forsaetisraduneyti.is/acts-of-law//nr/15 If the material also contain information about the private affairs of other individuals, it is permissible to restrict a party's access to them, providing that the interests which call for keeping the information secret are more important than those of the party requesting access to the material. A patient's access to data in medical records shall be subject to provisions of the Health Records Act. As applicable, the provisions of Art. 3, 7 and 8 cover a party's access to material. Procedure Article 10 Requests for access to information Anyone requesting access to material shall specify the particular material which they wish to study. On the other hand, they may request to study all of the material on a certain matter without specifying any particular material concerning it. A government authority may stipulate that a request for access to material be made in writing, as well as being submitted on a form provided by the authority. When access is requested to material concerning an issue in which a decision is to be taken or has been taken on individual rights or obligations, the request shall be directed to the government authority which has taken or is due to take a decision on the issue. In other instances, the request shall be directed to the authority safekeeping the material. Article 11 Speed and procedure Governmental authorities shall determine as soon as possible whether or not to comply with a request for accessing material. Should a request not have been handled within seven days of when it was received, the reasons for this delay and the expected time of decision must be clarified for the requester. When access is granted to material that a third person has a legally protected right to, pursuant to the Copyright Act, information shall be provided on the name of the rights holder, if such information is available. In other respects, procedure shall be subject to the Administrative Procedures Act. Article 12 Copies or photocopies of documents A government authority shall determine whether material to which it is permissible to grant access should be shown or provided as copies or photocopies. However, a public authority is obligated upon request, insofar as possible, to provide copies or photocopies of material in the form or format and in the language in which it is kept, unless it is already accessible to the public in electronic form. When documents are kept solely in electronic form, the requester can demand to receive them in printed form, unless the third paragraph applies. When the number of documents is great, the government authority may decide to assign their photocopying to other parties. The same applies when the government authority does not have 23/06/2010 12:39 PM