Access to Information Implementation Notice 2022-01: Inter-institutional Consultations

5.1 Limiting the requests for consultation

Institutions may consult another about disclosing records that relate to them, but they are not obligated to do so. Consultations are not mandatory under the ATIA and should take place only when needed. Section 4.1.31 of the Directive states that institutions should undertake inter-institutional consultations only when:

• The processing institution requires more information for the proper exercise of discretion to withhold information; or,
• The processing institution intends to disclose potentially sensitive information.

Institutions should be selective when determining which access requests require consultations and are encouraged to use their delegated authorities to their full extent.

5.2 Narrowing the scope of consultations and providing relevant context

Framing the advice being sought or identifying the specific information for which advice is being sought is a best practice to expedite the consultation process. It is not an acceptable practice to ask another institution to review an entire ATIP package without providing additional guidance such as:

• which piece or pieces of information the processing institution is consulting on; and,
• which specific exemptions the processing institution is considering applying, based on their understanding of the records.

For some consultation requests that are especially complicated, the processing institutions are encouraged to include all relevant reference material and provide targeted questions when they make a consultation request to another institution. To do this, processing institutions may want to conduct a detailed analysis of the information before submitting a consultation request to another institution. By framing the consultation request more fulsomely and by providing relevant contextual information, the institution being consulted should be able to respond more quickly and more accurately.

5.3 Giving equal priority to consultation requests

Section 4.1.32 of the Directive requires that institutions treat consultation requests from other government institutions with the same level of importance as access requests that they receive directly. 

5.4 Setting a reasonable timeline for responding to consultation requests

If a government institution consults another institution, it must still respond within the 30-day time limit unless the conditions in paragraph 9(1)(b) of the ATIA are met. This provision permits extensions of time to be claimed only if the consultations are necessary to comply with the request and those consultations cannot reasonably be completed within the original 30-day time limit.   

For cases where the conditions for a time extension are met, the processing institution should establish clear timelines for a response with the institution being consulted.

5.5 Monitoring and following-up on response timelines

It is recommended that processing institutions establish and implement a process for monitoring timelines for consultation extensions and, if necessary, for taking action. If the institution being consulted is unable to respond within the proposed time extension, or if more clarification is required, they should inform the processing institution as early as possible. The processing institution that received the original request should follow up on the progress of consultations to ensure that the other institution abides by the pre-established timelines.