§ 426.206 - Response to requests.

§ 426.206 Response to requests.

(a) Acknowledgements of requests. The Commission will send an acknowledgement of the request in writing and assign it an individualized tracking number if it will take longer than 10 working days to process. Upon request, the Commission will provide an estimated date by which the Commission expects to provide a response to the requester. If a request involves a voluminous amount of material, or searches in multiple locations, the agency may provide interim responses, releasing the records on a rolling basis.

(b) Grant of request. If a FOIA Officer grants a request, in full or in part, the Commission shall promptly provide the requester written notice of the decision, what fees apply under section 10 of this subpart, and the availability of its FOIA Public Liaison to offer assistance. The requester will be notified whether the request has been assigned to the Standard, Complex, or Expedited track, pursuant to § 426.205(b).

(c) Request denial. If the Chief FOIA Officer denies a request in any respect, the Commission will notify the requester of that determination in writing. A denial of request includes decisions that: Fees will not be waived, no expedited processing will be done, there are no responsive records subject to FOIA, the requested record does not exist or has been destroyed, the requested record is exempt in whole or in part, or the request does not reasonably describe the records sought. The written notice will include:

(1) The name and title or position of the person responsible for the denial;

(2) A brief statement of the reasons for the denial, including any FOIA exemption applied by the agency in denying the request;

(3) A description of the material withheld, such as the approximate number of pages or some other reasonable form of estimation;

(4) A statement that the denial may be appealed under section 8(a) of this subpart, and a description of the appeal requirements; and

(5) A statement notifying the requester of the assistance available from the agency's FOIA Public Liaison and the dispute resolution services offered by OGIS.

(d) Redactions. When a portion of a record is withheld, the amount of information redacted and the claimed exemption will be noted at the place in the record where the redaction was made.