Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 104 / Monday, June 1, 1998 /Rules and Regulations 29591

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND

HUMAN SERVICES

Food and Drug Administration

21 CFR Part 1240

[Docket No. 97N–0418]

Revocation of Lather Brushes

Regulation; Correction

AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration,

HHS.

ACTION: Final rule; correction.

SUMMARY: The Food and Drug

Administration (FDA) is correcting a

final rule that appeared in the Federal

Register of May 12, 1998. The document

that revoked regulations pertaining to

the treatment, sterilization, handling,

storage, marketing, and inspection of

lather brushes. The document published

with an inadvertent error. This

document corrects that error.

DATES: The final rule is effective June

11, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Philip L. Chao, Policy Development and

Coordination Staff (HF–23), Food and

Drug Administration, 5600 Fishers

Lane, Rockville, MD 20857, 301–827–

3380.

In FR Doc. 98–12450 appearing on

page 26077 in the Federal Register of

Tuesday, May 12, 1998, the following

correction is made:

On page 26077, in the second column,

in the heading, the docket number

‘‘97P–0418’’ is corrected to read ‘‘97N–

0418’’.

Dated: May 21, 1998.

William K. Hubbard,

Associate Commissioner for Policy

Coordination.

[FR Doc. 98–14292 Filed 5–29–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4160–01–F

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

28 CFR Parts 16 and 50

[Attorney General Order No. 2156–98]

RIN 1105–AA20

Revision of Freedom of Information

Act and Privacy Act Regulations and

Implementation of Electronic Freedom

of Information Act Amendments of

1996

AGENCY: Department of Justice.

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: This document amends the

Department’s regulations under both the

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and

the Privacy Act of 1974. The FOIA and

Privacy Act regulations have been

streamlined and condensed, in

accordance with the principles of the

National Performance Review, with

more ‘‘user-friendly’’ language used

wherever possible. These revisions also

reflect the principles established by

President Clinton and Attorney General

Reno in their FOIA Memoranda of

October 4, 1993. The Department’s new

statement of discretionary disclosure

policy—which originated in the

Attorney General’s FOIA Memorandum

of October 4, 1993, and is incorporated

into § 16.1(a)—supersedes the existing

regulation regarding discretionary

access to records of historical interest.

Additionally, the regulations have been

updated to reflect developments in case

law and to include updated cost figures

used in calculating and charging fees.

These revisions also contain new

provisions implementing the Electronic

Freedom of Information Act

Amendments of 1996 (Electronic FOIA

Amendments).

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Janice Galli McLeod ((202) 514–3642).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background Information

On August 26, 1997, the Department

of Justice published a proposed rule that

revised its existing regulations under

the FOIA and Privacy Act and added

new provisions implementing the

Electronic FOIA Amendments. See 62

FR 45184, Aug. 26, 1997. Interested

persons were afforded an opportunity to

participate in the rulemaking through

submission of written comments on the

proposed rule. The Department received

three responses to its proposed rule. The

Department has adopted several of the

modifications suggested by the

commenters and has made other

revisions to its proposed rule for clarity

as well.

New provisions implementing the

Electronic FOIA Amendments are found

at § 16.2(c) (electronic reading rooms),

§ 16.5(b) (multitrack processing),

§ 16.5(c) (processing under unusual

circumstances), § 16.5(d) (expedited

processing), § 16.6(b) (deletion

marking), § 16.6(c) (appeal of format

determinations), § 16.6(c)(3) (volume

estimation), § 16.11(b)(3) (format of

disclosure), and § 16.11(b)(8) (electronic

searches). Revisions to the Department’s

fee schedule are found at § 16.11 (c) and

(d).

Comments

The Department received three

responses from commenters: the first,

from several organizations that

represent newspapers, news editors, and

reporters; the second, from two

nonprofit groups that regularly use the

FOIA, both as requesters and as counsel

for requesters; and the third, from a

Federal agency. Each of the three

responses contained several comments.

Due consideration has been given to

each of the comments received.

In several instances, commenters

questioned the absence in the proposed

rule of verbatim restatements of the

language of the Electronic FOIA

Amendments, or other statutory

provisions of the FOIA. Such

restatements of statutory language,

however, are not necessary to the

regulation. The rule revises the

Department’s existing regulations only

where the amending language of the

Electronic FOIA Amendments

specifically requires or permits new

regulations, where the current

regulations conflict with the statutory

amendments or existing case law, or

where condensing or clarifying the

regulations is warranted. The

Department has added to its final rule

three new clarifying statements—in

§§ 16.1 and 16.3, as well as in § 16.40—

to remind requesters and users that the

Department’s regulations should be read

in conjunction with the FOIA, the

Privacy Act, or both statutes.

Requesters and other users of the

regulations now are also referred in

§ 16.3 to the Department’s ‘‘Freedom of

Information Act Reference Guide’’—a

user-friendly guide created under the

Electronic FOIA Amendments that

provides helpful information designed

to familiarize users with available

resources and specific procedures for

making FOIA requests to the

Department. The Department has

complied with new subsection (g) of the

FOIA by making its ‘‘Freedom of

Information Act Reference Guide’’

available both in paper form and

electronically. See ‘‘FOIA Update,’’

Summer 1997, at 2; see also ‘‘Freedom

of Information Act Reference Guide,’’ at

3 & Attachment C (Aug. 1997); H.R. Rep.

No. 104–795, at 30 (1996). In accordance

with one commenter’s suggestion,

§ 16.3(a) has been revised to specifically

refer requesters to the Department’s

‘‘Freedom of Information Act Reference

Guide’’ for assistance in locating the

records of the Department’s various

components in connection with

potential FOIA requests.

In some instances, commenters

suggested particular amendments to the

proposed rules. Several of the suggested

amendments have been accepted and

incorporated into the Department’s final

rule. For example, one commenter noted