Information Publication Scheme

Agency Plan — September 2013

1. Introduction

The Takeovers Panel is an agency established under the ASIC Act 2000 and is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (FOI Act). The Panel is required to comply with the Information Publication Scheme (IPS) requirements and this agency plan describes how the Panel proposes to do this, as required by s8(1) of the FOI Act.

This agency plan discusses:

• what information the Takeovers Panel publishes currently and what it proposes to publish in the future and the means by which this information will be published (on its website) and
• how the Panel otherwise proposes to comply with the requirements of the IPS.

The Panel is a small organisation which receives executive support from Treasury. The main contact for this scheme and any FOI enquiries is the Panel's director, Allan Bulman. Please direct any feedback in relation to this Plan to the Panel's director, contact details can be found on the contact page.

The Panel receives assistance from Treasury FOI officers to respond to FOI enquiries. The Panel will act consistently with the principles in the Treasury IPS Agency Plan, unless they are clearly inapplicable to the Panel.

2. What the Panel currently publishes

The Panel currently publishes, among other things, the following:

• details of the Panel's structure, as required under s8(2)(b) of the FOI Act
• details of the agency's functions, including its decision making powers, its process in deciding applications and other powers affecting members of the public, as required under s8(2)(c) of the FOI Act
• details of the appointment of the Panel President and Panel members, as required under s8(2)(d) of the FOI Act
• the Panel's annual reports, as required under s8(2)(e) of the FOI Act
• details of arrangements for a member of the public to comment on specific policy proposals for which the Panel is responsible, including how (and to whom) those comments may be made, as required under s8(2)(f) of the FOI Act
• information routinely provided to Parliament, as required under s8(2)(h) of the FOI Act
• details of other operational information, as required under s8(2)(j) of the FOI Act, including:
  • how to apply to the Panel
  • decisions¹ of the Panel
  • an index of Panel reasons from 2006-2012
  • guidance notes of the Panel
  • policy consultation papers and
  • precedents.
• a discussion of takeover provisions in the Corporations Act and
• various explanatory memoranda and committee reports in relation to takeovers.

3. What the Panel proposes to publish

The Panel proposes to publish the following, among other things:

• documents which the Panel routinely gives access to in response to requests under Part III of the FOI Act²
• responses to public consultation, not marked confidential, from 30 June 2011
• responses to public consultation, not marked confidential, before 30 June 2011, when requested from a member of the public and
• by 31 December 2013, complete the index of Panel reasons to include reasons from 2000-2005.

4. Other compliance issues

The director of the Panel, in conjunction with other executive staff and Treasury FOI officers, will monitor compliance with the IPS and other FOI requirements. The Panel proposes to review compliance on a 12 monthly basis and will take into account any public feedback.

The Panel may charge a person for accessing IPS information other than through the website to reimburse agency costs. These charges will be consistent with the charges in the Freedom of Information (Charges) Regulations 1982.

From commencement of the IPS, the Panel will publish any new IPS documents as soon as they are available for publication.

The Panel will seek to ensure that:

• the information provided under the IPS is easily discoverable, understandable, machine-readable, re-useable and transformable and
• ensure the format conforms where possible to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2 (Web 2.0) and provide alternative access arrangements.

The Panel's website is maintained by staff in Treasury.

¹ With the narrow exception of confidential reviews of ASIC decisions.

² Releases under FOI are published on the Department of Treasury's website. As at 5 September 2013,only one document has been released in relation to the acquisition of Consolidated Minerals Ltd by Palmary.