Access to General Information

General information about activities at the University of Zurich can be requested without a form (e.g. by phone or e-mail).

In the following cases, the request for access to information must be submitted in writing by letter (§ 7, para. 2 of the Information and Data Protection Ordinance, IDV):

•           Third-party data are involved and the third party must be consulted.

•           In-depth clarifications must be carried out to weigh interests.

•           The processing involves a particular amount of effort.

If UZH cannot determine with a reasonable amount of effort what information is being requested, it may ask the requester for clarification (§ 8, para. 3 IDV). If the additional details that are requested in order to determine what information is being sought are not provided within ten days, the request will be considered withdrawn (§ 8, para. 4 IDV).

Depending on the circumstances, personal data may be disclosed when access to the requested information is granted. This is the case, for example, when there is a request to view a contract. A person may be either a legal and/or a natural person. Legal persons that may be affected include, for example, contractual partners, while natural persons who are affected may be individuals specified by name.

Such disclosures may affect the privacy of these persons and therefore impact their private interests, which may speak against providing access to the requested information. Therefore and pursuant to §§ 23, 26 of the Canton of Zurich’s Act on Information and Data Protection (IDG ZH), UZH must weigh the various interests.

In order to carry out such a consultation, pursuant to § 26 para. 1 IDG UZH must provide the affected person with an opportunity to make a statement within an appropriate amount of time. In such cases, UZH provides a deadline of 14 days. Prior consultation with the affected third party allows UZH to determine the facts that are necessary when weighing the various interests and what may speak against the disclosure of the requested information. After the various interests have been weighed, UZH makes a decision on whether to grant access to the requested information.

If the affected third party/parties does/do not object to the granting of access to the requested information, UZH can grant the requester the corresponding access. If the affected third party/parties does/do object to the granting of access to the requested information, but UZH, despite the wishes of the affected third party/parties, wants to grant the requester the corresponding access, as UZH considers the interests of granting access to the information to outweigh the interests of the affected party/parties, it must inform the affected third party/parties in a decree in accordance with § 27 para. 2 IDG. If the affected third party/parties challenge/s this decree, the next steps in the process are based on the appeal process. If the affected party/parties does/do not provide a comment, UZH will decide based on its records.

If a consultation with affected third parties is necessary in your case, the process described above must be followed. For this reason, UZH may either not be able to meet the 30-day deadline specified by § 28 para. 1 IDG for granting access to the information or issuing a decree limiting the right of access, or it may have to extend the deadline.

Pursuant to § 29, para. 1 IDG, UZH must generally charge a fee for processing requests by private individuals. It may only forgo charging a fee in certain cases, for example, if the access to the requested information only requires minimal effort or UZH rejects the request for access or only grants partial access (§ 29, para. 2 and § 35, para. 2, 3 IDV).

UZH always charges a fee if the processing involves a substantial amount of effort. This is generally the case if the total costs of processing the request exceed CHF 100, e.g. because the document of which copies are to be provided is very long or the data of affected third parties must be anonymized.

If the total costs of processing the request are expected to exceed CHF 500, UZH will inform the requester about the expected amount of the fee (§ 36, para. 1 DV). In addition, UZH may request an appropriate advance payment in such cases (§ 29, para. 3 IDV).

If the requester does not provide confirmation within ten days that they would like to maintain the request that is subject to a fee, the request will be considered withdrawn (§ 36, para. 2 IDV).

Further information you find here (German).