GCMS Notes Processing Time

The government must normally respond to a request for your GCMS notes within 30 days. It can extend that period in some situations, so some requests take longer.

Current processing time

Requests for personal information made under Canada’s access to information and privacy (ATIP) laws have a 30-day response time. The clock normally starts when the institution receives a valid request. Actual delivery depends on how many records your file holds and how busy the office is.

When the government can extend the deadline

• The request covers a large number of records, or searching them would unreasonably interfere with operations
• Other organizations need to be consulted before records can be released

The institution must tell you when it extends the deadline and why.

How long our requests take

We file your request within 1 business day of receiving your signed consent form. After that, the time to receive your records is the government’s, not ours. We are a new service, so we will publish the real delivery times of completed requests here once we have enough of them.

What to do if you have not heard back

1. Check whether you were notified about an extension.
2. Look up your order on the status page.
3. If more than 30 days have passed with no explanation, contact us with your order reference and we will follow up.

Learn more in our guide to making an ATIP request.