More than any other, section 20 is the one that has been critically examined by the courts, which have considered all possible interpretations. The act contains a mechanism for handling third party information. If a request involves information provided to the department by a third party, the third party must be consulted and has a say. The third party may even require that certain information be treated as a trade or business secret.
This is often disputed. Even if the commissioner, the access to information official, decides to release some of this information despite the representations made by the third party, the third party can and often does take the case to court. That is a problem. There is a whole body of case law around this provision, which makes it cumbersome in terms of its application.