§ 2.111 - Action by office responsible for responding to request.

(a) Whenever an EPA office becomes aware that it is responsible for responding to a request, the office shall:

(1) Take action under § 2.109, if required, to obtain a better description of the records requested;

(2) Locate the records as promptly as possible, or determine that the records are not known to exist, or that they are located at another EPA office, or that they are located at another Federal agency and not possessed by EPA;

(3) When appropriate, take action under § 2.120(c) to obtain payment or assurance of payment;

(4) If any located records contain business information, as defined in § 2.201(c), comply with subpart B of this part;

(5) Determine which of the requested records legally must be withheld, and why (see § 2.119(b));

(6) Of the requested records which are exempt from mandatory disclosure but which legally may be disclosed (see § 2.119(a)), determine which records will be withheld, and why;

(7) Issue all initial determination within the allowed period (see § 2.112), specifying (individually or by category) which records will be disclosed and which will be withheld, and signed by a person authorized to issue the determination under § 2.113(b). Denials of requests shall comply with § 2.113; and

(8) Furnish the appropriate Freedom of Information Officer a copy of the determination. If the determination denied a request for one or more existing, located records, the responding office shall also furnish the Freedom of Information officer the name, address, and telephone number of the EPA employee(s) having custody of the records, and shall maintain the records in a manner permitting their prompt forwarding to the General Counsel upon request if an appeal from the initial denial is filed. See also § 2.204(f).

(b) If it appears that some or all of the requested records are not in the possession of the EPA office which has been assigned responsibility for responding to the request but may be in the possession of some other EPA office, the Freedom of Information officer who is monitoring the request shall be so informed immediately.

(c) In determining which records are responsive to a request, the EPA office responding shall ordinarily include those records within the Agency's possession as of the date of the Agency's receipt of the request.

(d) When a request for EPA records encompasses records of another Federal agency, the EPA office shall either: (1) Respond to the request after consulting with the originating agency when appropriate or; (2) promptly transfer responsibility for responding to the request to the originating agency provided that the other agency is subject to the FOIA. Whenever the EPA office refers a request to another agency, it shall notify the requestor of the referral.