[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 45, Volume 1]
[Revised as of October 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 45CFR5.24]

[Page 20]
 
                        TITLE 45--PUBLIC WELFARE
 
                           AND HUMAN SERVICES
 
PART 5--FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REGULATIONS--Table of Contents
 
                      Subpart B--Obtaining a Record
 
Sec. 5.24  Responding to your request.

    (a) Retrieving records. The Department is required to furnish copies 
of records only when they are in our possession or we can retrieve them 
from storage. If we have stored the records you want in the National 
Archives or another storage center, we will retrieve and review them for 
possible disclosure. However, the Federal Government destroys many old 
records, so sometimes it is impossible to fill requests. Various laws, 
regulations, and manuals give the time periods for keeping records 
before they may be destroyed. For example, there is information about 
retention of records in the Records Disposal Act of 1944, 44 U.S.C. 3301 
through 3314; the Federal Property Management Regulations, 41 CFR 101-
11.4; the General Records Schedules of the National Archives and Records 
Administration; and in the HHS Handbook: Files Maintenance and Records 
Disposition.
    (b) Furnishing records. The requirement is that we furnish copies 
only of records that we have or can retrieve. We are not compelled to 
create new records. For example, we are not required to write a new 
program so that a computer will print information in the format you 
prefer. However, if the requested information is maintained in 
computerized form, but we can, with minimal computer instructions, 
produce the information on paper, we will do this if it is the only way 
to respond to a request. Nor are we required to perform research for 
you. On the other hand, we may decide to conserve government resources 
and at the same time supply the records you need by consolidating 
information from various records rather than copying them all. Moreover, 
we are required to furnish only one copy of a record and usually impose 
that limit. If information exists in different forms, we will provide 
the record in the form that best conserves government resources. For 
example, if it requires less time and expense to provide a computer 
record as a paper printout rather than in an electronic medium, we will 
provide the printout.