As of February 1, 2024, the OIPC will no longer be conducting courtesy searches on behalf of public bodies to determine if a third party request for review has been received by this office. The provision of this service is not a responsibility of the OIPC under the FOIP Act and as our office works to streamline and improve our processes to provide better service to Albertans in the areas of our legislated responsibilities, the provision of this courtesy service is being discontinued.
Sections 30 and 31 outline the statutory obligations of public bodies and third parties under the FOIP Act. Public bodies and third parties should communicate directly with each other respecting these statutory obligations.
In their written notice, public bodies may advise third parties that if the third party decides to ask for a review under section 31(3), and if the third party does not want to risk inadvertent disclosure of information by the public body, that third party should directly notify the public body that it has asked for a review.
The form for making requests for this type of search can be found at https://oipc.ab.ca/forms/ until the end of January.