Source: http://thefederalregister.com/2012/09/04/2012-21495.html
Timestamp: 2017-12-14 21:01:16
Document Index: 535195570

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 1610', 'art 1610', '§ 1610', '§ 1610', '§ 552', '§ 1610']

29 CFR Part 1610
RIN 3046-AA90
SUMMARY: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC" or "Commission") proposes to revise its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regulations in order to implement the Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National Government Act of 2007 (OPEN Government Act) and the Electronic FOIA Act of 1996 (E-FOIA Act); to reflect the reassignment of FOIA responsibilities in the Commission's field offices from the Regional Attorneysto the District Directors; and to consolidate Commission public reading areas in offices where there are adequate FOIA personnel to provide satisfactory service.
ADDRESSES: Written comments should be submitted to Executive Secretariat, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 131 M Street NE., Suite 6NE03F, Washington, DC 20507. As a convenience to commenters, the Executive Secretariat will accept comments by facsimile ("FAX") machine. The telephone number of the FAX receiver is (202) 663-4114. (This is not a toll-free FAX number). Only comments of six or fewer pages will be accepted via FAX transmittal to ensure access to the equipment. Receipt of FAX transmittals will not be acknowledged, except that the sender may request confirmation of receipt by calling the Executive Secretariat staff at (202) 663-4070 (voice) or (202) 663-4074 (TTY). (These are not toll-free telephone numbers.) You may also submit comments and attachments electronically athttp://www.regulations.gov,which is the Federal eRulemaking Portal. Follow the instructions online for submitting comments. Copies of comments submitted by the public will be available for review at the Commission's library, 131 M Street NE., Suite 4NW08R, Washington, DC 20507, between the hours of 9:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. or can be reviewed athttp://www.regulations.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephanie D. Garner, Assistant Legal Counsel, Gary J. Hozempa, Senior Attorney, or Draga G. Anthony, Attorney Advisor, Office of Legal Counsel, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission at (202) 663-4640 (voice) or (202) 663-7026 (TTY). These are not toll-free telephone numbers. This notice is also available in the following formats: large print, Braille, audiotape, and electronic file on computer disk. Requests for this document in an alternative format should be made to the Office of Communications and Legislative Affairs at (202) 663-4191 (voice) or (202) 663-4494 (TTY), or to the Publications Information Center at 1-800-669-3362.
• Time limits for agencies to act on FOIA requests;
• Recovery of attorney's fees and litigation costs in FOIA-related lawsuits;
• Disciplinary actions for arbitrary and capricious rejection of FOIA requests;
• Use of individualized identification numbers to track FOIA requests;
• Proper fee charges for FOIA requests from news media;
• Enhanced requirements for agencies' annual FOIA reports to Congress;
• Appointment of a Chief FOIA Officer in an agency;
• Appointment of a FOIA Public Liaison in an agency;
• Disclosure of records maintained for an agency by a private entity pursuant to a records management contract; and
• A new requirement that the amount of material deleted from a document produced pursuant to FOIA must be specifically identified at the site of the deletion, together with the exemption authorizing that deletion.
—Section 1610.1 (adds definitions for “agency record,” “news,” and “representative of the news media” based on the Act); —Section 1610.5 (identifies the acceptable methods of submitting a FOIA request to the Commission [in person or via mail, email, Internet, or facsimile machine] including the required identification of the submission as a FOIA request and other content required for efficient processing); —Section 1610.6 (provides that FOIA requests which seek documents in the Commission's custody, but that originated in another agency, will be referred to the originating agency for its decision, and that the requester will be informed of the referral); —Section 1610.7 (lists the proper Commission offices to receive FOIA requests); —Section 1610.9 (explains the prospective processing time for FOIA requests and the period for which the time schedule for responding to a FOIA request is delayed when the Commission requires clarification by the requester, and provides that requests misdirected to the wrong EEOC-FOIA office shall be forwarded to the correct EEOC-FOIA office within 10 business days); —Section 1610.10 (clarifies that the Commission will provide a written response to a FOIA request regardless of whether the request is granted or denied and regardless of whether there are documents responsive to the request); —Section 1610.11 (provides that FOIA appeals misdirected to Commission District Offices shall be forwarded from those offices to the Legal Counsel within 10 business days); —Section 1610.15 (states that the Commission will not charge search fees if the Commission's response to the FOIA is untimely, absent unusual or exceptional circumstances); —Section 1610.18 (states that data underlying annual FOIA reports shall be available to the public); —Section 1610.21 (specifies the content of the Commission's annual FOIA report to Congress). The E-FOIA ACT
The Commission transferred FOIA responsibility from EEOC Regional Attorneys to EEOC District Directors in 2007. To coordinate the Commission's FOIA regulations with the EEOC's current delegation of responsibility for FOIA processing as reflected in EEOC Order 150.001, the proposed rule revisesthe following sections of 29 CFR part 1610:
—Section 1610.4 (updates the addresses of Commission offices, deletes references to materials no longer published, and deletes unnecessary verbiage); —Sections 1610.6, 1610.7, 1610.10, 1610.13 and 1610.19 (delete unnecessary verbiage); —Section 1610.20 (removed because its language was duplicative of other Commission FOIA regulations). Regulatory Procedures Executive Order 12866
42 U.S.C. 2000e-12(a), 5 U.S.C. 552 as amended by Pub. L. 93-502, Pub. L. 99-570, and Pub. L. 105-231; for § 1610.15, non-search or copy portions are issued under 31 U.S.C. 9701.
(j)Agency recordincludes any information maintained for an agency by an entity under Government contract, for the purposes of records management.
(k)Newsrefers to information about current events that would be of current interest to the public.
(l)Representative of the news mediarefers to any person or entity that gathers information of potential interest to a segment of the public, uses its editorial skills to turn the raw materials into a distinct work, and distributes that work to an audience. Examples of news media entities are television or radio stations broadcasting to the public at large and publishers of periodicals (but only if such entities qualify as disseminators of “news”) who make their products available for purchase by, subscription by, or free distribution to, the general public. As methods of news delivery evolve (for example, the implementation of electronic dissemination of newspapers through telecommunication services), such alternative media shall be considered to be news-media services. A freelance journalist shall be regarded as working for a news-media entity if the journalist can demonstrate a solid basis for expecting publication through that entity, whether or not the journalist is actually employed by the entity. A publication contract would present a solid basis for such an expectation; the Commission may also consider the past publication record of the requester in making such a determination.
(a) The Commission will maintain in a public reading area located in the Commission's library at 131 M Street NE., Washington, DC 20507, the materials which are required by 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(2) and 552(a)(5) to be made available for public inspection and copying. Any such materials created on or after November 1, 1996 may also be accessed through the Internet athttp://www.eeoc.gov.The Commission will maintain and make available for public inspection and copying in this public reading area a current index providing identifying information for the public as to any matter which is issued, adopted, or promulgated after July 4, 1967, and which is required to be indexed by 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(2). The Commission in its discretion may, however, include precedential materials issued, adopted, or promulgated prior to July 4, 1967. The Commission will also maintain on file in this public reading area all material published by the Commission in theFederal Registerand currently in effect.
Atlanta District Office, 100 Alabama Street SW., Suite 4R30, Atlanta, GA 30303 (includes the Savannah Local Office). Birmingham District Office, Ridge Park Place, 1130 22nd Street South, Suite 2000, Birmingham, AL 35205-2397(includes the Jackson Area Office and the Mobile Local Office). Charlotte District Office, 129 West Trade Street, Suite 400, Charlotte, NC 28202 (includes the Raleigh Area Office, the Greensboro Local Office, the Greenville Local Office, the Norfolk Local Office, and the Richmond Local Office). Chicago District Office, 500 West Madison Street, Suite 2000, Chicago, IL 60661 (includes the Milwaukee Area Office and the Minneapolis Area Office). Dallas District Office, 207 S. Houston Street, 3rd Floor, Dallas, TX 75202-4726 (includes the San Antonio Field Office and the El Paso Area Office). Houston District Office, 1201 Louisiana Street, 6th Floor, Houston, TX 77002 (includes the New Orleans Field Office). Indianapolis District Office, 101 West Ohio Street, Suite 1900, Indianapolis, IN 46204-4203 (includes the Detroit Field Office, the Cincinnati Area Office, and the Louisville Area Office). Los Angeles District Office, 255 E. Temple Street, 4th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90012 (includes the Fresno Local Office, the Honolulu Local Office, the Las Vegas Local Office, and the San Diego Local Office). Memphis District Office, 1407 Union Avenue, 9th Floor, Memphis, TN 38104 (includes the Little Rock Area Office, and the Nashville Area Office). Miami District Office, Miami Tower, 100 SE 2nd Street, Suite 1500, Miami, FL 33131 (includes the Tampa Field Office and the San Juan Local Office). New York District Office, 33 Whitehall Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10004 (includes the Boston Area Office, the Newark Area Office, and the Buffalo Local Office). Philadelphia District Office, 801 Market Street, 13th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107-3127 (includes the Baltimore Field Office, the Cleveland Field Office, and the Pittsburgh Area Office). Phoenix District Office, 3300 N. Central Avenue, Suite 690, Phoenix, AZ 85012-2504 (includes the Denver Field Office, and the Albuquerque Area Office). San Francisco District Office, 350 Embarcadero, Suite 500, San Francisco, CA 94105-1687 (includes the Seattle Field Office, the Oakland Local Office, and the San Jose Local Office). St. Louis District Office, Robert A. Young Building, 1222 Spruce Street, Room 8100, St. Louis, MO 63103 (includes the Kansas City Area Office, and the Oklahoma City Area Office).
(a) A written request for inspection or copying of a record of the Commission may be presented in person, or by mail, or by fax, or by email, or throughhttps://egov.eeoc.gov/foia/to the Commission employee designated in § 1610.7. Every request, regardless of format, must contain the requester's name and may identify a non-electronic mailing address. In-person requests must be presented during business hours on any business day.
(b) A request for any record which does not fall within the ambit of subparagraph (a) of this section, or a request for any record the location of which is unknown to the person making the request, shall be submitted in writing to the Assistant Legal Counsel, FOIA Programs, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, by mail to 131 M Street NE., Suite 5NW02E, Washington, DC 20507, or by fax to (202) 663-4679, or by email toFOIA@eeoc.gov,or by Internet tohttps://egov.eeoc.gov/foia/.
(c) If a FOIA request is submitted to the incorrect EEOC-FOIA office, that office shall forward the misdirected request to the appropriate EEOC-FOIAoffice within 10 business days. If a misdirected request is forwarded to the correct EEOC-FOIA office more than 10 business days after its receipt by the EEOC, then, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(A), the statutory 20 business days to respond to the request is reduced by the number of days in excess of 10 that it took the EEOC to forward the request to the correct EEOC-FOIA office.
(c) The decision on appeal shall be in writing and signed by the Legal Counsel or designee, or the Assistant Legal Counsel, FOIA Programs, as appropriate. A denial in whole or in part of a request on appeal shall set forth the exemption relied on, a briefexplanation of how the exemption applies to the records withheld, and the reasons for asserting it, if different from those described by the Assistant Legal Counsel, FOIA Programs, the District Director, or the District Director's designee under § 1610.9. The decision on appeal shall indicate that the person making the request may, if dissatisfied with the decision, file a civil action in the United States District Court for the district in which the person resides or has his principal place of business, for the district where the records reside, or for the District of Columbia.