The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act (Cap. 496) gives the general public a right to access documents held by public authorities, including all ministries and departments, and thus increases transparency and accountability.
The Act came fully into force on 1st September 2012.
Primary HealthCare: Internal Complaints Procedure
An applicant whose request for information is refused, or who is otherwise not satisfied with the information provided, its format or the extension of the deadline for the submission of the notification indicating whether a request would be met or not, may address a complaint to the Department.
The complaint should be addressed to the Department’s FOI Officer, who shall bring the complaint to the attention of the officer responsible . The officer responsible, through the FOI Officer, shall reply to the applicant within 20 working days from the receipt of the complaint. The applicant shall also be informed that he or she may appeal the decision or otherwise address a complaint to the Information and Data Protection Commissioner in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act (Cap. 496 of the Laws of Malta).
The officer responsible shall inform the applicant of the decision taken with respect to his or her complaint, and in the event of confirmation of a decision not to release the pertinent information, shall explain the reasons thereof. Whenever the applicant’s complaint is related to the format of the information provided or to an extension of the deadline for the submission of the notification indicating whether a request would be met or not by the Department, and the original decision is upheld, the applicant shall be given an explanation as to why his or her complaint cannot be positively addressed.
An applicant may also make use of the Internal Complaints Procedure to report failure to meet deadlines or to send notifications. In those cases where the request for information can be met, but has not been met within the deadlines specified by the Act, the officer responsible shall waive any applicable fees for the submission of information.
The officer responsible shall be the CEO or, in his absence, the most senior official within the Department.
Complaints should be submitted by post or by hand (Mondays to Fridays except public holidays from 8.00 am to 2.00 pm) to:
The FOI Officer
Primary HealthCare
7 Harper Lane
Floriana FRN 1940
Any payments due are to made to:
The CEO
Primary HealthCare
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Data Protection and GDPR
Data Protection Privacy Policy, Primary HealthCare:
The information collected about you will be used solely for the purpose it was collected and in accordance to the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act (Cap 440).
Please
click here to assess our full Data Protection policy. The Primary HealthCare Data Controller may be contacted at: Primary HealthCare, 7 Harper Lane Floriana, FRN 1940. Email: dpo.phc@gov.mt.