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 the agency or Minister shall, unless it is apparent from the request or as a result of consultation by the agency or Minister with the applicant, that the applicant would not wish to have access to such a copy, make, and grant access to, such a copy.

(2) Where access is granted to a copy of a document in accordance with sub-section (1)—


 * (a) the applicant shall be informed that it is such a copy and also informed of the provision of this Act by virtue of which any matter deleted is exempt matter; and


 * (b) section 26 does not apply to the decision that the applicant is not entitled to access to the whole of the document unless the applicant requests the agency or Minister to furnish to him a notice in writing in accordance with that section.

Decisions to be made by authorized persons

23. (1) Subject to sub-section (2), a decision in respect of a request made to an agency may be made, on behalf of the agency, by the responsible Minister or the principal officer of the agency or, subject to the regulations, by an officer of the agency acting within the scope of authority exercisable by him in accordance with arrangements approved by the responsible Minister or the principal officer of the agency.

(2) A decision in respect of a request made to a court, or made to a tribunal, authority or body that is specified in Schedule 1, may be made on behalf of that court, tribunal, authority or body by a person who is declared by the regulations to be the prescribed officer for the purposes of this sub-section in relation to that court, tribunal, authority or body or, subject to the regulations, by an officer of that court, tribunal, authority or body acting within the scope of authority exercisable by him in accordance with arrangements approved by the prescribed officer in relation to that court, tribunal, authority or body.

Requests may be refused in certain cases

24. (1) Where—


 * (a) a request is expressed to relate to all documents, or to all documents of a specified class, that contain information of a specified kind or relate to a specified subject-matter; and


 * (b) the agency or Minister dealing with the request is satisfied that, apart from this sub-section, the work involved in giving access to all the documents to which the request relates would substantially and unreasonably divert the resources of the agency from its other operations or would interfere substantially and unreasonably with the performance by the Minister of his functions, as the case may be, having regard to the number and volume of the documents and to any difficulty that would exist in identifying, locating or collating the documents within the filing system of the agency or of the office of the Minister,