§ 4.4 - Availability of records.

§ 4.4 Availability of records.

Cross Reference

Link to an amendment published at 89 FR 35687, May 2, 2024.

(a) In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(2), the Commission shall make the following materials available for public inspection and copyingin an electronic format:

(1) Statements of policy and interpretation which have been adopted by the Commission;

(2) Administrative staff manuals and instructions to staff that affect a member of the public;

(3) Opinions of Commissioners rendered in enforcement cases, General Counsel's Reports and non-exempt 52 U.S.C. 30109 investigatory materials shall be placed on the public record of the Agency no later than 30 days from the date on which all respondents are notified that the Commission has voted to close such an enforcement file;

(4) Copies of all records, regardless of form or format, which have been released to any person under this paragraph (a) and which;

(i) Which, because of the nature of their subject matter, the agency determines have become or are likely to become the subject of subsequent requests for substantially the same records, or

(ii) Which have been requested three or more times; and

(5) A general index of the records referred to in paragraph (a)(4) of this section.

(b) In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(3), the Commission shall make available, upon proper request, all non-exempt Agency records, or portions of records, not previously made public pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(1) and (a)(2).

(c) The Commission shall maintain and make available for public inspection in an electronic format current indexes and supplements providing identifying information regarding any matter issued, adopted, or promulgated after April 15, 1975, as required by 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(2)(C) and (E). These indexes and supplements shall be published and made available on at least a quarterly basis for public distribution unless the Commission determines by Notice in the Federal Register that publication would be unnecessary, impracticable, or not feasible due to budgetary considerations. Nevertheless, copies of any index or supplement shall be made available upon request at a cost not to exceed the direct cost of duplication.

(d) The Freedom of Information Act and the provisions of this part apply only to existing records; they do not require the creation of new records.

(e) If documents or files contain both disclosable and nondisclosable information, the nondisclosable information will be deleted and the disclosable information released unless the disclosable portions cannot be reasonably segregated from the other portions in a manner which will allow meaningful information to be disclosed.

(f) All records created in the process of implementing provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552 will be maintained by the Commission in accordance with the authority granted by General Records Schedule 14, approved by the National Archives and Records Service of the General Services Administration.

(g) The Commission encourages the public to explore the information available on the Commission's website, located at http://www.fec.gov. The site includes a Commission publication, Availability of FEC Information, which provides a detailed listing of the types of documents available from the FEC, including those available under FOIA, and directions on how to locate and obtain them.

(h) The Commission will withhold information under this section only if the Commission reasonably foresees that disclosure would harm an interest protected by an exemption described in § 4.5(a); or disclosure is prohibited by law. The Commission will consider whether partial disclosure of information is possible whenever it determines that full disclosure of a requested record is not possible, and the Commission will take reasonable steps necessary to segregate and release nonexempt information.

[44 FR 33368, June 8, 1979, as amended at 45 FR 31291, May 13, 1980; 65 FR 9206, Feb. 24, 2000; 79 FR 77844, Dec. 29, 2014; 89 FR 213, Jan. 2, 2024; 89 FR 35687, May 2, 2024]