Under the Georgia Open Records Act, all public records are available for inspection and copying unless they are specifically exempted from disclosure under the law. If a government agency or custodian of public records withholds a public document from production under an Open Records Request, they must cite to the specific statutory provision of Georgia law that exempts the record from being produced.
A request to inspect or copy records may be made either orally or in writing. For purposes of documenting and clarifying the scope and timing of the request, it is a better practice to make the request in writing, and actions to enforce the ORA can only be based on written requests.