Application of section 18 RTI Act/section 22 IP Act

The processing period is the time in which an applicant must be given a considered decision. It is 25 business days long and begins when an agency receives an access application (or, under the IP Act, an amendment application) which complies with all legislative requirements.

The RTI Act provides additional time periods for other actions that occur during the processing of the application, for example the charges estimate notice process. These times do not count as part of the processing period and effectively pause it.

Before the processing period ends, the Act allows a decision maker to request extra time to consider an application. This is called the further specified period. It is also not part of the processing period, but only begins when the processing period has expired.

Refer to this guideline for guidance on applying this section: How to calculate timeframes.