1327.1 REV-1 1327.1 REV-1

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FOIA GLOSSARY

Accessible

Documents: Documents which may be released

notwithstanding one of the nine exemptions

cited in the Act.

Advance

Payments: Charge and collect fees or portions thereof

when they exceed \$250 and the requestor has

no previous payment history; or when a

requester has previously failed to pay fees

in a timely fashion.

Aggregating

Requests: A requestor may not file multiple requests

at the same time, each seeking portions of

a document or documents, solely to avoid

payment of fees.

Annual Report: Yearly report to Congress from each federal

agency regarding its FOIA operations to

encourage agency compliance with the FOIA.

Appeal: Administrative Remedy for denials of access

to agency records. A written request for

administrative review must be filed within

thirty days after issuance of the written

denial.

CFR: Code of Federal Regulations - Codification

of the general and permanent rules by the

agencies of the Federal Government.

Title 24 contain the rules of HUD. Part 15

of this title contains the Departments

procedures to be used in administering the

FOIA.

Charges

Miscellaneous: Certifying - \$3.00

Special Mailing - Actual

Cost

Commercial Uses: Requestors whose use of the information is

for a use that furthered their business

interests.

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6/91 G-1 6/91

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1327.1 REV-1 1327.1 REV-1

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Computer

Search/Fees: Search costs for that portion of the

operation of the central processing unit

(CPU) and operator salary.

Confidential

Treatment

Requests: Submitters of materials to the Department

may request confidential treatment of those

materials. Submitters shall receive notice

of the access request and the Department\'s

intention to release the material.

Congressional

Requests: Requests from individual members of

Congress and requests from a committee or

subcommittee chairman who asks for

information on his own behalf, rather than

on the behalf of the committee or

subcommittee, are handled like FOIA

requests. Requests submitted on behalf of

Congressional committees or subcommittees

are to be handled by the Office of the

Secretary.

Copyright

Material: Responsive material containing copyrighted

documents should be provided in the form of

titles and sources of the materials. These

materials will be routinely withheld if

their release would violate exemption (b)4

by adversely affecting the commercial value

of the copyright.

Denial: Withholding records in accordance with one

of nine exemptions listed in the Act.

Denial

Official: The head of the organizational unit or his

designee, with respect to records

pertaining to programs or activities for

which he has primary responsibility.

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6/91 G-2 6/91

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1327.1 REV-1 1327.1 REV-1

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Direct Costs: Basic rate of pay for employee performing

work, plus 16 percent and cost of operating

duplicating machinery.

Where a homogeneous class of personnel is

used exclusively (e.g., all clerical or all

professional), agencies may establish an

average rate for the range of grades

typically involved.

Duplication

Fees: First 100 pages free other than commercial

requestors.

Paper - 10 cents per page

Computer Tapes and Printouts - Actual Cost

Educational

Institution: A preschool, a public or private elementary

or secondary school, an institution of

graduate higher education, an institution

of undergraduate higher education, an

institution of professional education, and

an institution of vocational education,

which operates a program or programs of

scholarly research; and the documents

sought are in furtherance of the

institution\'s program of scholarly research

and not for a commercial use. This category

of requestor shall be charged duplication

costs only.

Exemptions: Nine categories of documents which an

agency may withhold under the FOIA.

1\. Authorized by executive order to be kept

secret in the interest of national defense

or foreign policy, and are properly

classified;

2\. Related solely to the internal personnel

rules and practices of an agency;

3\. Exempt from disclosure by statute;

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6/91 G-3 6/91

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1327.1 REV-1 1327.1 REV-1

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4\. Trade secrets and commercial or financial

information obtained from a person and

privileged and confidential;

5\. Inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or

letters which would not be available by law

to a party other than an agency in

litigation with the agency;

6\. Personnel and medical files and similar

files the disclosure of which would

constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion

of personal privacy;

7\. Records or information compiled for law

enforcement purposes;

8\. Contained in or related to examination,

operating, or condition reports prepared

by, on behalf of, or for the use of an

agency responsible for the regulation or

supervision of financial institutions;

9\. Geological and geophysical information and

data, including maps, concerning oil wells.

Extensions of NO EXTENSION MAY EXCEED MORE THAN 10

Time: WORKING DAYS AFTER THE ORIGINAL DUE DATE.

The need to search for and collect records

from separate offices; the need to examine

a voluminous amount of records required by

the request; the need to consult with

another agency or agency component. These

extension provisions may be invoked.

Informal Extension - an agreement reached

between the organizational unit and the

requestor.

Fee Payment

Addressee: Payable to: Dept. of Treasury, Mailing

Address: Dept. of Housing & Urban

Develop., 451 7th Street, S.W., Room 10139,

FOIA, Washington, D.C. 20410

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6/91 G-4 6/91

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1327.1 REV-1 1327.1 REV-1

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Fees to Be

Charged: Search, Duplication, Review, Computer

Costs. No fees are to be collected if cost

of processing a request is \$5.00 or below.

Fee Waivers: Fees should be waived or reduced if

disclosure of the information is in the

public interest because it is likely to

contribute significantly to public

understanding of the operations or

activities of the government and is not

primarily in the commercial interest of the

requestor.

Disclosure must contribute to the

understanding of the public at large,

rather than the individual understanding of

the requestor or a narrow segment of

interested persons.

Freedom of

Information Case

List: Alphabetical compilation of judicial

decisions, both published and unpublished,

addressing access issues under the Freedom

of Information Act and the Privacy Act.

This publication is prepared annually by

the Department of Justice, Office of

Information and Privacy.

FOIA Update: A newsletter of information and guidance

for federal agencies, published quarterly

by the Office of Information and Privacy,

U.S. Dept. of Justice. Distributed without

charge to all FOIA offices.

Glomar Denial: An agency shall refuse to confirm or deny

the existence or nonexistence of requested

information whenever its existence or

nonexistence is itself classifiable.

Interest on

Assessed Fees: Interest is incurred on the 31st day

following the day on which the billing was

sent. Interest will be charged at the

current rate prescribed in Section 3717 of

Title 31, U.S.C.

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6/91 G-5 6/91

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1327.1 REV-1 1327.1 REV-1

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Material from

Other Agencies: Material which the Department has within

its possession but is a \"record\" of another

federal agency should not be released until

that agency is contacted for a

determination of release.

News Media: An entity that is organized and operated to

publish or broadcast news to the public.

A freelance journalist may be regarded as

working for a news organization if they can

demonstrate a solid basis for expecting

publication through that organization such

as a publication contract. This category

of requestor can be charged for duplication

costs only.

Privacy Act: 5 U.S.C., Sect. 552a, restricts the

collection, maintenance, use and

dissemination of information concerning

individuals that is found in \"systems of

records.\" The Act also governs the ability

of individuals to obtain such records.

Record: Documents which are created or

obtained by an agency; under agency

control at the time of the FOIA

request.

Agencies are not required to create

explanatory material in response to a FOIA

request; nor are agencies required to

answer questions disguised as FOIA

requests.

Responsive

Documents: Documents which fit the description of the

requestors access letter.

Reverse FOIA: FOIA action in which the submitter of

information seeks to prevent the agency

from releasing the information to a third

party.

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6/91 G-6 6/91

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1327.1 REV-1 1327.1 REV-1

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Review: Processing of responsive documents to

determine whether the material is exempt

from disclosure, and preparing them for

release. (Only charged to commercial use

requestors).

Scientific

Institution: Institution not operated on a commercial

basis, and is operated solely for the

purpose of conducting scientific research,

the results of which are not intended to

promote any particular product or industry.

This category of requestor shall be charged

for duplication costs only.

Search: Time spent looking for material that is

responsive to a request.

Search

(Unsuccessful): Search did not locate responsive documents.

Fees may be assessed for an unsuccessful

search with the prior knowledge of the

requestor.

Search and

Review Fees: Clerical - \$9.25 per hour

Professional - \$18.50 per hour

Subscription

Requests: Providing documents on an ongoing basis

without submission of relative FOIA

requests. Requestors cannot require

agencies to make automatic releases of

records as they are created.

Subpoenas: An order or demand of a court or other

authority is issued for the production or

disclosure of records. No such demand

shall be complied with without the prior

approval of the Secretary.

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6/91 G-7 6/91

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1327.1 REV-1 1327.1 REV-1

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Time Limits: Upon receipt of a request the responsible

organizational unit shall determine within

ten working days, whether to comply with

such requests and notify the requestor in

writing of such determination and the

reasons therefor and the right of such

person to request a review by the General

Counsel of any adverse determination.

An agency\'s failure to comply with the time

limits for either the initial request or

the administrative appeal may be treated as

an exhaustion of administrative remedies,

and the requestor may seek judicial review.

Vaughn Index: An itemized index correlating each withheld

document (or portion) with a specific FOIA

exemption and the relevant part of the

agency\'s nondisclosure justification.

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6/91 G-8 6/91