[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 15, Volume 1]
[Revised as of January 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 15CFR4.3]

[Page 30-31]
 
                  TITLE 15--COMMERCE AND FOREIGN TRADE
 
PART 4--DISCLOSURE OF GOVERNMENT INFORMATION--Table of Contents
 
                  Subpart A--Freedom of Information Act
 
Sec. 4.3  Records under the FOIA.

    (a) Records under the FOIA include all Government records, 
regardless of format, medium or physical characteristics, and include 
electronic records and information, audiotapes, videotapes, and 
photographs.

[[Page 31]]

    (b) Under the FOIA, the Department has no obligation to create, 
compile, or obtain from outside the Department a record to satisfy a 
request. In complying with a request for electronic data, whether the 
Department creates or compiles records (as by undertaking significant 
programming work) or merely extracts them from an existing database may 
be unclear. The Department shall in any case undertake reasonable 
efforts to search for the information in electronic format.
    (c) Department officials may, upon request, create and provide new 
records pursuant to user fee statutes, such as the first paragraph of 15 
U.S.C. 1525, or in accordance with authority otherwise provided by law. 
Such creation and provision of records is outside the scope of the FOIA.
    (d) Components shall preserve all correspondence pertaining to the 
requests they receive under this subpart, as well as copies of all 
requested records, until disposition or destruction is authorized by 
Title 44 of the United States Code or the National Archives and Records 
Administration's General Records Schedule 14. Components shall not 
dispose of records while they are the subject of a pending request, 
appeal, or lawsuit under the FOIA.