Supreme Court Ruling on Deposits Training
If you deal with FOI requests in Victoria, this is a must-attend session. This session will detail a very recent Supreme Court decision on access charges and how it affects your processing of FOI requests on a day to day basis.
A landmark Supreme Court of Victoria decision has confirmed how deposit notices operate under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic) (“FOI Act”), and the practical and immediate implications for agencies.
In Chopra v Victorian Institute of Teaching [2025] VSC 815, the Court confirmed the legal effect of a deposit notice. This is a decisive endorsement of use of the deposit provisions as a lawful and powerful workflow management tool that your agency could utilise for almost every FOI request.
The Court also clarified:
- Exactly when an FOI request is deemed “received” for statutory timeframes
- The legal consequences of defective deposit notices
- The functions deposit notices must perform to comply with s 22
- The limited avenues for applicants to challenge charges
- Why electronic access is not a recognised form of access under s 23 and how that affects charging
This training session will unpack what the decision means in practice:
- drafting deposit notices that work
- lawfully refreshing processing time
- avoiding unnecessary work and risk
- what can and cannot be charged for
- how charges, deposits and form of access interact
What you will receive
- Copy of the paper as a valuable future reference tool
- Copy of the slides for future use
- Ability to ask questions up to 24 hours before the session to be answered during the session or within 3 business days of the session.
- Ability to send questions about the session within 24 hours after the session, to be answered within 3 business days of the session.
- All attendees will receive a copy of all written questions and written responses for the session(s) attended.
