ACCESS TO INFORMATION AND PROTECTION OF PRIVACY ACT (as amended January 2008) 22 Protection of information relating to personal safety25 (1) … 26 (2) The head of a public body may refuse to disclose to an applicant personal information concerning the applicant if such disclosure will result in a threat to the applicant’s or another person’s safety or mental or physical health. 27 23 Information otherwise available to public (1) The right of access to information in terms of section five shall not be held to be denied where under this Act or any other law the head of a public body refuses to disclose information— (a) that is otherwise available to members of the public upon payment of a specific fee; or (b) that will be published or released to members of the public within sixty days of the date of receiving the applicant’s request. (2) If the head of a public body refuses to disclose information on the ground referred to in paragraph (b) of subsection (1) and the information is not published after the expiry of sixty days from the date of receiving the request for the information, the applicant may make another request for the information and the head of the public body shall reconsider it. 24 Protection of information relating to business interests of a third party (1) The head of a public body may refuse to disclose to an applicant information that will reveal the trade secrets or commercial, financial or employment, scientific or technical information of a third party that was supplied, implicitly or explicitly, in confidence to the public body, and the disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to— (a) significantly harm the competitive position or interfere with the negotiating position of the third party; or (b) result in similar information being no longer provided to the public body when it is in the public interest that such information continues to be so provided; or (c) result in undue financial loss or gain to any person or organisation; or (d) reveal information supplied to an arbitrator, mediator, labour officer or other person or body appointed to resolve or inquire into a labour relations dispute; or (e) reveal information that will harm the economic interests of the State. (2) The head of a public body shall not disclose to an applicant information contained in a tax return form or gathered for the purpose of determining a person’s tax liability or collecting outstanding tax. (3) Subsections (1) and (2) shall not apply where— (a) the third party consents to the disclosure; or (b) the information is contained in a record that is in the custody or control of the National Archives; or 25 Heading substituted by s. 3 of Act 5/2003. 26 Subsection repealed by s. 3 of Act 5/2003. 27 Subsection substituted by s. 3 of Act 5/2003. 17