From request to review
Identify the competent review route
For request public records, record the requester, location, scope and responsible receiving office. The receipt identifies the clock and competent jurisdiction.
Gate: Location and competence are recorded
Owner: Archives, Libraries & Memory CommissionPreserve the original record
Assess record description; reconcile it with date and institution reference and preferred access format. A missing document has an explicit alternative-evidence route rather than silent rejection.
Gate: Evidence is complete or an alternative is agreed
Owner: Archives, Libraries & Memory CommissionNotify parties with appropriate confidentiality
Ask Data Rights Authority for the finding within its own powers. The consultation records the specific unresolved question, evidence version and requested response.
Gate: A specialist finding is recorded
Owner: Data Rights AuthorityObtain an independent finding
A closed institution still owes custody and access duties Publish or privately communicate the resolution, including dissent and consent limits.
Gate: The stated safeguard is resolved
Owner: Democratic Governance CommissionCommunicate reasons and remedies
An accessible record release or reasoned restriction. The decision also names the accountable official role, effective event, conditions, review office and follow-up duties.
Gate: Reasons, conditions and review route are available
Owner: Archives, Libraries & Memory CommissionReview the finding and preserve access
Preserve the source record, decision reasons and conditions for request public records. A service complaint routes to the Ombudsman; a contested legal restriction routes to the Union Court.
Gate: Follow-up owner and record custody are named
Owner: Union Ombudsman
Exceptions and alternate routes
Required evidence is unavailable
Record the missing item and propose a witness, existing register reference or independently verified substitute. The completeness review remains open.
Interplanetary communication is interrupted
Record local receipt time and the delegated action available. Preserve a mirrored log for later reconciliation; do not invent a remote approval.
An adverse finding affects the requester
Provide the finding, allow a response, disclose the review route and preserve essential service continuity where applicable.
Institutional interfaces
Protects privacy and supervises lawful processing of personal information.
Supports independent public-service information and accessible civic communications.
Maintains democratic institutions, local autonomy and public participation.
Start the record
Prepare a requestThe assessment behind the stage diagram
The custodian checks retention, provenance, public access and any defined restriction. A redacted or explanatory version is considered rather than defaulting to blanket refusal.
The record description and responsible custodian identify the search. A requester need not already know the internal file identifier to ask an intelligible public question.
Possible decisions and what follows
Disclosure, redacted disclosure, a precise search or clarification request, or reasoned refusal with review.
Retain the response and correction history. Closing or renaming an institution does not cancel public record custody.
Duties after the finding
Keep the scope accurate
Tell the receiving office about a material change in location, activity, operator, record custodian or requested result. The original receipt remains in the history.
Respect source custody
Provide purpose-specific references and authorised representations. Personal, clinical, commercial and protected scientific records have different access scopes.
Respond to a qualified finding
Read the conditions and the institution that owns them. A request for further evidence identifies the specific unresolved issue and the route for an alternative.
Preserve the follow-up
Retain the response and correction history. Closing or renaming an institution does not cancel public record custody.
Disagreement, assistance and evidence alternatives
A completeness query names the unresolved evidence and the alternative the receiving office can assess. An administrative complaint concerns service handling; a legal appeal concerns a finding and its competent remedy. A public petition asks a representative institution to examine a wider issue.