§ 7.53 - Public availability of records.

(a) Each person desiring access to or a copy of a record covered by this subpart shall comply with the following provisions:

(1) A written request must be made for the record.

(2) Such request should indicate that it is being made under the Freedom of Information Act.

(3) The envelope in which the request is sent should be prominently marked: “FOIA.”

(4) The request should be addressed to the appropriate office as set forth in paragraph (c) of this section.

(b) If the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section are not met, treatment of the request will be at the discretion of the agency. The ten-day time limit described in § 7.21 shall not start to run until the request has been identified, or would have been identified with the exercise of due diligence, by an employee of the Department as a request pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act and has been received by the office to which it should have been originally sent.

(c) Each person desiring access to or a copy of a record covered by this subpart that is located in the Office of the Secretary shall make a written request to the Assistant General Counsel for Environmental, Civil Rights, and General Law, U.S. Department of Transportation, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 20590. Each person desiring access to or a copy of a record covered by this subpart that is located in an operating element shall make a written request to that element at the address set forth in the applicable appendix to this part. If the person making the request does not know where in the Department the record is located, he or she may make inquiry of the Assistant General Counsel for Environmental, Civil Rights, and General Law to its location.

(d) Each request should describe the particular record to the fullest extent possible. The request should describe the subject matter of the record, and, if known, indicate the date when it was made, the place where it was made, and the person or office that made it. If the description does not enable the office handling the request to identify or locate the record sought, that office shall notify the person making the request and, to the extent possible, indicate the additional data required.

(e) Each record made available under this subpart shall be made available for inspection and copying during regular business hours at the place where it is located, or photocopying may be arranged with the copied materials being mailed to the requester upon payment of the appropriate fee. Original records ordinarily will be copied except in those instances where, in the Department's judgment, copying would endanger the quality of the original or raise the reasonable possibility of irreparable harm to the record. In these instances, copying of the original would not be in the public interest. In any event, original records will not be released from custody.

(f) If a requested record is known not to exist in the files of the agency, or to have been destroyed or otherwise disposed of, the requester shall be so notified.

(g) Fees will be determined in accordance with subpart I and the applicable appendix or appendices to this part.

(h) Notwithstanding paragraphs (a) through (g) of this section, informational material, such as news releases, pamphlets and other materials of that nature that are ordinarily made available to the public as a part of any information program of the Government will be available upon oral or written request. There will be no fee for individual copies of that material so long as they are in supply. In addition, the Department will continue to respond, without charge, to routine oral or written inquiries that do not involve the furnishing of records.