§ 201.18 - Denial of requests, appeals from denial.

§ 201.18 Denial of requests, appeals from denial.

(a) Written requests for inspection or copying of records shall be denied only by the Secretary or Acting Secretary, or, for records maintained by the Office of Inspector General, the Inspector General. A denial shall be in writing and shall provide information on the exemptions that justify withholding and the amount of information withheld. The denial also shall advise the person requesting of the right to appeal to the Commission.

(b) An appeal from a denial of a request must be received within ninety days of the date of the letter of denial and shall be made to the Commission and addressed to the Chairman, United States International Trade Commission, 500 E Street SW., Washington, DC 20436. Any such appeal shall be in writing, and shall indicate clearly in the appeal, and if the appeal is in paper form on the envelope, that it is a “Freedom of Information Act Appeal.” An appeal may be made either in paper form, or electronically by contacting the Commission at http://www.usitc.gov/foia.htm.

(c) Except when expedited treatment is requested and granted, appeals will be decided in the order in which they are filed, but in any case within twenty days (excepting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays) unless an extension, noticed in writing with the reasons therefor, has been provided to the person making the request. Notice of the decision on appeal and the reasons therefor will be made promptly after a decision. Requests for expedited treatment should conform with the requirements in § 201.17(c) of this part.

(d) The extensions of time mentioned in paragraph (c) of this section shall be made only for one or more of the following reasons:

(1) The need to search for and collect the requested records from field facilities or other establishments that are separate from the office processing the request;

(2) The need to search for, collect, and appropriately examine a voluminous amount of separate and distinct records which are requested in a single communication; or

(3) The need for consultation, which shall be conducted with all practicable speed, with another agency having a substantial interest in the determination of the request or among two or more components of the agency having a substantial subject-matter interest therein.

(e) The extensions of time mentioned in paragraph (c) of this section shall not exceed ten working days in the aggregate.

(f) A response to an appeal will advise the requester that the Commission's FOIA Public Liaison officer and the Office of Government Information Services both offer mediation services to resolve disputes between FOIA requesters and Federal agencies as a non-exclusive alternative to litigation. The requester may contact the Commission's FOIA Public Liaison officer by telephone [phone]) or email ([e-mail]) or the Office of Government Information Services at National Archives and Records Administration, 8601 Adelphi Road - OGIS, College Park, Maryland 20740-6001.

[40 FR 8328, Feb. 27, 1975, as amended at 54 FR 13678, Apr. 5, 1989; 60 FR 37336, July 20, 1995; 63 FR 29348, May 29, 1998; 68 FR 32975, June 3, 2003; 80 FR 39379, July 9, 2015; 81 FR 86576, Dec. 1, 2016]