§ 403.7 - Mandatory review for declassification.

§ 403.7 Mandatory review for declassification.

(a) Classified information under the jurisdiction of the Bank shall be reviewed for declassification upon receipt of a request by a United States citizen or permanent resident alien, a Federal agency, or a State or local government. A request for mandatory review of classified information shall be submitted in writing and describe the information with sufficient particularity to locate it with a reasonable amount of effort. Requests may be addressed to the:

General Counsel, Export-Import Bank of the U.S., 811 Vermont Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20571

(b) The Bank's response to mandatory review requests will be governed by the amount of search and review time required to process the request. The Bank will acknowledge receipt of all requests, and will inform the requester if additional time is needed to process the request. Except in unusual circumstances, the Bank will make a final determination within one year from the date of receipt of the request.

(c) When information cannot be declassified in its entirety, the Bank will make a reasonable effort to release, consistent with other applicable laws, those declassified portions that constitute a coherent segment.

(d) The bank shall determine whether information under the classification jurisdiction of the Bank or any reasonably segregable portion of it no longer requires protection. If so, the General Counsel shall promptly make such information available to the requester, and shall inform the requester of any fees due before releasing the document. If the information may not be released, in whole or in part, the General Counsel shall give the requester a brief statement of the reasons, and a notice, mailed with return receipt requested, of the right to appeal the determination within 60 days of the denial letter's receipt.

(e) The agency that initially received or classified records containing foreign government information shall be responsible for making a declassification determination on review requests for classified records which contain such foreign government information. Such requests shall be referred to the appropriate agency for action.

(f) When the Bank receives a mandatory declassification review request for records in its possession that were originated by another agency, it shall forward the request to that agency. The Bank may request notification of the declassification determination.

(g) Information originated by a President, the White House staff, by committees, commissions, or boards appointed by the President, or other specifically providing advice and counsel to a President or acting on behalf of a President is exempted from the provisions of mandatory review for declassification, except as consistent with applicable laws that pertain to presidential papers or records.

(h) The bank shall process requests for declassification that are submitted under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, as amended, or the Privacy Act of 1974, in accordance with the provisions of those acts. (See, 12 CFR part 404 and 12 CFR part 405, respectively.) In any case, however, exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act or other exemptions under applicable law may be invoked by the Bank to deny material on grounds other than classification.

(i) The Bank shall refuse to confirm or deny the existence or non-existence of requested information whenever the fact of its existence or non-existence is itself classifiable under the Order.