RTI Application Format

What is an Information Request (RTI)?

An information request asks a public authority to give you records it holds — a file note, a decision, an inspection report, correspondence, a register entry. It matters because it converts a request that can be ignored into one with a statutory clock on it. A phone call to a department goes nowhere; a properly framed request under the access law, addressed to the right officer, has a deadline and an appeal route behind it.

Citizens use it to find out why an application was refused, what happened to a complaint, when a road or drain will be repaired, how a tender was awarded, or what an inspection found. Journalists and researchers use it for datasets and correspondence. Residents' associations use it for municipal works and budgets. Businesses use it for procurement records and regulatory decisions. Individuals also use the related route to ask for their own personal data, which is normally handled under data protection law rather than the general access law.

The law, the officer, the fee and the deadline all change with the country. India's Right to Information Act routes requests to a Public Information Officer, with a first appeal and then the Central or State Information Commission. The United Kingdom uses the Freedom of Information Act, with environmental questions under separate environmental information regulations and the Information Commissioner as regulator; Scotland has its own Act. The United States has the federal FOIA plus state public records laws. Canada and Australia run federal and provincial or state regimes. Check the current fee and response deadline for the body you are writing to.

Access laws reach public authorities and bodies brought within them, not private companies generally. They give you records the body already holds — most regimes do not require an authority to create a new document, compile an analysis, or answer a question that is not a request for recorded information. Exemptions apply, commonly to personal data about other people, commercial confidence, live investigations and national security. It is not a complaint procedure and it will not compel an authority to act; it only obliges it to disclose, or to justify a refusal.

What to put in an Information Request (RTI)

These are the details this template asks for. Anything left blank is marked in red on the preview so you can see what is still missing.

How to write an Information Request (RTI)

1. Identify the right authority and officer

   Requests go to the body that holds the record, and to the officer the law names — a Public Information Officer, an information rights team, a records access unit. Sending it to the wrong department wastes the statutory clock, though many regimes require a transfer to the correct body. Check the authority's published contact for access requests rather than using the general enquiries address.

2. Ask for records, not for opinions

   Ask for documents. Provide copies of the inspection reports for the site at 14 Mill Road between January and June, and any correspondence between the licensing team and the applicant, is answerable. Why was my application delayed and who is responsible is a question, and most regimes do not oblige an authority to answer questions or to write an explanation that does not already exist as a record.

3. Bound the request by date and subject

   Give a date range, a location, a file or reference number, a named scheme or a decision date. Wide requests are the ones refused as excessive or priced out of reach, so narrow first and widen later if the reply shows there is more. If you genuinely need a large set, say you are willing to discuss narrowing it — several regimes require the authority to help you do exactly that.

4. State the format and the fee position

   Say how you want the records — electronic copies by email is usually cheapest and fastest — and whether you would prefer inspection instead of copies. State that you will pay the prescribed fee up to a stated amount, and ask to be told before any charge above it is incurred. Enclose or reference the application fee where the regime requires one to start the clock.

5. Note the deadline and appeal route

   Write down the date you sent it and the statutory response period for that regime, and diarise it. If the reply is late, refuses, or releases the record with sections withheld, there is normally an internal review or first appeal followed by an independent regulator or commission. Note both deadlines when you file, because appeal windows are short and are not extended for oversight.

Common mistakes

• Asking questions rather than requesting documents, which lets the authority reply that it holds no recorded information answering the request.
• Sending the request to a general enquiries inbox instead of the designated information officer, which can leave the statutory clock unstarted.
• Framing a request so broadly that it is refused as excessive, when a narrower first request would have identified exactly which file to ask for next.
• Missing the internal review or first appeal window after a refusal, which usually ends the matter regardless of its merits.
• Using an access request to pursue a grievance, which produces documents but no remedy, since the law compels disclosure and not action.

Frequently asked questions

This page explains general practice and is not legal advice. Requirements differ between countries and, in some cases, between states — check what applies where the document will be used.

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