Access to Information Act

Marginal note:Advice, etc.

• 21 (1) The head of a government institution may refuse to disclose any record requested under this Part that contains

  • (a) advice or recommendations developed by or for a government institution or a minister of the Crown,

  • (b) an account of consultations or deliberations in which directors, officers or employees of a government institution, a minister of the Crown or the staff of a minister participate,

  • (c) positions or plans developed for the purpose of negotiations carried on or to be carried on by or on behalf of the Government of Canada and considerations relating thereto, or

  • (d) plans relating to the management of personnel or the administration of a government institution that have not yet been put into operation,

  if the record came into existence less than twenty years prior to the request.

• Marginal note:Exercise of a discretionary power or an adjudicative function

  (2) Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of a record that contains

  • (a) an account of, or a statement of reasons for, a decision that is made in the exercise of a discretionary power or an adjudicative function and that affects the rights of a person; or

  • (b) a report prepared by a consultant or an adviser who was not a director, an officer or an employee of a government institution or a member of the staff of a minister of the Crown at the time the report was prepared.