Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2004/03/30/04-6783/revision-of-the-department-of-labor-freedom-of-information-act-regulations-and-implementation-of
Timestamp: 2017-08-23 12:36:33
Document Index: 687996707

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Federal Register :: Revision of the Department of Labor Freedom of Information Act Regulations and Implementation of Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments of 1996
A Proposed Rule by the Labor Department on 03/30/2004
69 FR 16739
1290-AA17
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/04-6783 https://www.federalregister.gov/d/04-6783
Start Preamble Start Printed Page 16740
The proposed regulations would add new provisions to explicitly implement the Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments of 1996 (Pub. L. 104-231). The Department has been operating in compliance with the amendments, and based on its experience is now proposing to update the regulations to reflect these changes in the law. New provisions implementing the amendments are found at § 70.4(d)(2) (electronic reading rooms); § 70.21(a) (format of disclosure); § 70.21(b)(3) (deletion marking and volume estimation); § 70.25 (timing of responses); and § 70.38(d) (electronic searches).
The Department presumes that since the E-FOIA amendments have been operative now for several years, most of those interested in commenting on the Department's implementation of those provisions will be familiar with the subject. However, those interested in consulting additional resources on any of the procedural requirements of the FOIA, and the E-FOIA amendments in particular, can readily find detailed information at the U.S. Department of Justice Web site. For example, a copy of the FOIA can be located at http://www.usdoj.gov/​04foia/​foiastat.htm; the current (May 2002) edition of the Department of Justice FOIA Reference Guide can be located at http://www.usdoj.gov/​oip/​foi-act.htm;​ and specific information about the E-FOIA amendments of 1996 can be located at http://www.usdoj.gov/​oip/​foia_​updates/​Vol_​XVII_​4/​page1.htm.
The proposed regulations would also update the Department's fee schedule. Proposed revisions of the Department's fee schedule can be found at §§ 70.40(d)(1) and (3). The duplication charge will remain the same at fifteen cents per page, while document search and review charges will increase to $5.00 and $10.00 per quarter hour for clerical and professional or supervisory time, respectively. The amount at or below which the Department will not charge a fee will increase from $5.00 to $15.00 at § 70.43(a). The proposed regulations would also clarify the application of fees with respect to administrative appeals.
The proposed regulations would allow for the submission of e-mail FOIA requests to the Department. The regulations will create one e-mail address where all FOIA e-mail requests must be directed. Requests submitted to any other e-mail address will not be accepted. § 70.19(b).
The Department of Labor makes a tremendous amount of public information readily available to small entities on its Web site pursuant to the FOIA and other public disclosure requirements, and is committed to expanding this resource to assist small businesses and other members of the public. In this regard, the Department, consistent with the E-FOIA amendments, now maintains an electronic reading room. This electronic reading room provides ready access to many materials of interest to small entities that were previously available only at selected physical sites around the country—e.g., administrative staff manuals used by the Department. In addition, the Department makes “hot FOIAs” available to the public on this Web site pursuant to the requirements of the law. The Department has established a direct link on the Home page of its Web site http://www.dol.gov/​dol/​foia/​main.htm to its FOIA resources. In addition to the information in the electronic reading room, a copy of the statute, the Department's procedural regulations, up-to-date information about DOL disclosure officers, links to Department of Justice resources, and a variety of other useful information can be found on this site.
Small entities, like any other individual or entity, may request information in the Department's files that has not been generally made available to the public. One of the major purposes of revising the Department's FOIA regulations is to make it simpler for small entities and others to understand where and how to seek information from the Department, and to ensure that they receive disclosable information (and an appropriate explanation of why any information has been deemed non-disclosable) in a timely way. Like other requesters, small entities seeking information, must in some cases pay fees. The FOIA establishes a fee structure to cover the direct costs of the government in searching for, reviewing, and duplicating requested records. The Department's proposed regulations are fully consistent with these requirements. For example, consistent with the statute, the regulations provide Start Printed Page 16741that no fees will be charged in specified circumstances, establish uniform fees to cover the time expended by professional and clerical employees, and include provisions for fee waivers. Moreover, in fully implementing the provisions of the E-FOIA Act, the proposed regulations will ensure that small entities have the opportunity to obtain information in the format of their choice (including electronic formats) when it is feasible for the Department to produce the information in the requested manner.
This part contains the regulations of the Department of Labor implementing the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), as amended, 5 U.S.C. 552 and Executive Order 12600. It also implements the public information provisions of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA), 29 U.S.C. 435, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1026 (section 106), and the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), 5 U.S.C. app. 11. Subpart A contains general information about Department of Labor policies and procedures; Start Printed Page 16742subpart B sets forth the procedures for obtaining access to records of the Department; subpart C contains the Department's regulations on fees; and subpart D sets forth the procedures for obtaining access to certain public records. Appendix A contains a list of all Department of Labor disclosure officers from whom records may be obtained.
(1) Some components have public reading rooms only in Washington, DC, while other components provide reading rooms in area, district or regional offices throughout the United States. A disclosure officer in the appropriate component listed in appendix A to this part should be contacted to find out where the public reading room is located. If the appropriate component is unknown, inquiries can be directed to the Office of the Solicitor, Division of Legislation and Legal Counsel, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Room N2428, Washington, DC 20210. Fees for reproduction of records in public reading rooms are charged consistent with § 70.40.
Nothing in 5 U.S.C. 552 or this part requires that any agency or component create a new record in order to respond to a request for records. A component must, however, make reasonable efforts to search for records that already exist in electronic form or format, except when such efforts would significantly interfere with the operation of the component's automated information systems. The component will determine Start Printed Page 16743what constitutes a reasonable effort on a case-by-case basis.
(1) The functions of each major Department of Labor component are summarized in the United States Government Manual which is issued annually. The manual is available in print from the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, DC 20402-9328, and electronically at the Government Printing Office's World Wide-Web site, www.access.gpo.gov/​su_​docs. Appendix A of this part lists the disclosure officers of each component by title and address. This initial list has been included for information purposes only, and the disclosure officers may be changed through appropriate designation. Regional, district and field office addresses have been included in appendix A to this part to assist requesters in identifying the disclosure officer who is most likely to have custody of the records sought.
(2) Requesters who cannot determine the proper disclosure officer to which the request should be addressed, may direct the request to the Office of the Solicitor, Division of Legislation and Legal Counsel, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Room N2428, Washington, DC 20210 or by e-mail to foiarequest@dol.gov. Note, pursuant to § 70.25(a), the time for the component to respond to a request begins to run when the request is received by the proper disclosure officer.
(b) Form of notice denying a request. A disclosure officer denying a request in whole or in part must notify the Start Printed Page 16744requester in writing. The notice must be signed by the disclosure officer and will include:
(4) A statement that the denial may be appealed under § 70.22 and a description of the requirements of that section.
(c) Record cannot be located or has been destroyed. If a requested record cannot be located from the information supplied, or it is known or believed to have been destroyed or otherwise disposed of, the disclosure officer will so notify the requester in writing and this determination may be appealed as described in § 70.22.
(iv) A matter of widespread and exceptional media interest in which there exists possible questions about the Start Printed Page 16745government's integrity which affect public confidence.
Each component will preserve all correspondence relating to the requests it receives under this part, and all records processed pursuant to such requests, until disposition or destruction of such correspondence and records is authorized by Title 44 of the United States Code or the National Archives and Records Administration's Start Printed Page 16746General Records Schedule 14. Under no circumstances will records be destroyed while they are the subject of a pending request, appeal, or lawsuit under the Act.
§ 70.28—70.37
(a) Request, in this subpart, includes any request, as defined by § 70.2(f), as well as any appeal filed in accordance with § 70.22.
(e) Review means the process of examining records, including audio-visual, electronic mail, etc., located in response to a request to determine whether any portion of the located record is exempt from disclosure, and accordingly may be withheld. It also includes the act of preparing materials for disclosure, i.e., doing all that is necessary to excise them and otherwise prepare them for release. Review time includes time spent contacting any submitter, considering and responding to any objections to disclosure made by a submitter under § 70.26, but does not include time spent resolving general legal or policy issues regarding the application of exemptions.
(c) Types of charges that may be assessed for each type of request. (1) Start Printed Page 16747 Commercial use request. When a requester makes a commercial use request, search costs, reproduction costs and review costs will be assessed in their entirety.
(3) Review costs. Costs associated with the review of records, as defined in § 70.38(e), will be charged for work performed by a clerical employee at a rate of $5.00 per quarter hour when applicable. When professional or supervisory personnel perform work, a rate of $10.00 per quarter hour will be charged, when applicable. Except as noted in this paragraph (d)(3), charges may only be assessed for review the first time the records are analyzed to determine the applicability of specific exemptions to the particular record or portion of the record. Thus a requester would not be charged for review at the administrative appeal level with regard to the applicability of an exemption already applied at the initial level. When, however, a record has been withheld pursuant to an exemption which is subsequently determined not to apply and is reviewed again at the appellate level to determine the potential applicability of other exemptions, the costs attendant to such additional review will be assessed.
(a) Requirements for waiver or reduction of fees. (1) Records responsive to a request will be furnished without charge or at a charge reduced below that established under paragraph (d) of § 70.40 where a Disclosure Officer determines, based on all available information, that the requester has demonstrated that:
(2) To determine whether the requirement of paragraph (a)(1)(i) of this section is met, components will consider the following factors:Start Printed Page 16748
(i) The existence and magnitude of a commercial interest: Whether the requester has a commercial interest that would be furthered by the requested disclosure. The Disclosure Officer will consider any commercial interest of the requester (with reference to the definition of “commercial use request” in § 70.38(f)), or of any person on whose behalf the requester may be acting, that would be furthered by the requested disclosure. Requesters will be given an opportunity in the administrative process to provide explanatory information regarding this consideration.
(c) Appeal rights. The procedures for appeal under § 70.22 and § 70.23 will control.
(2) Where a requester has previously failed to pay a properly charged FOIA fee to any component of the Department of Labor within 30 days of the date of billing, a disclosure officer will require the requester to pay the full amount due, plus any applicable interest as provided in § 70.40(f) and to make an advance payment of the full amount of any anticipated fee, before the disclosure officer begins to process a new request or appeal or continues to process a pending request or appeal from that requester.
(d) Time limits to respond extended when advance payments are requested. When a component has requested an advance payment of fees in accordance with paragraph (c) of this section, the time limits prescribed in § 70.25 will only begin to run after the component has received the advance payment.
(c) Pursuant to 29 U.S.C. 435(c) which provides that the Secretary will by regulation provide for the furnishing of copies of the documents listed in paragraph (a) of this section, upon payment of a charge based upon the cost of the service, these documents are available at a cost of $.15 per page for record copies furnished. Authentication of copies is available in accordance with the fee schedule established in § 70.40. In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(4)(A)(vi), the provisions for fees, fee waivers and fee reductions in subpart C of this part do not supersede these charges for these documents.
Associate Deputy Secretary for Adjudication Start Printed Page 16750
500 Route 17 South, 2nd Floor, Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey 07604Start Printed Page 16752