[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 1, Volume 1]
[Revised as of January 1, 2005]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 1CFR456.4]

[Page 46-50]
 
                       TITLE 1--GENERAL PROVISIONS
 
                   CHAPTER IV--MISCELLANEOUS AGENCIES
 
PART 456--NATIONAL CAPITAL PLANNING COMMISSION (FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REGULATIONS)--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 456.4  Public access to information.

    (a) General policy. It is the Commission's general policy to 
facilitate the broadest possible availability and dissemination of 
information to the public. The Commission's staff is available to assist 
the public in obtaining information formally by using the procedures 
herein or informally by discussions with the staff. The Commission's 
staff may, therefore, continue to furnish informally to the public 
information, which, prior to the amendments to the Act contained in 
Public Law 93-502, enacted November 21, 1974, was customarily furnished 
in the regular performance of their duties, provided the staff do so in 
a manner not inconsistent with these regulations. In addition, to the 
extent permitted by other laws, the Commission will make available 
records which it is authorized to withhold under the Act when it 
determines that such disclosure is in the public interest.
    (b) Established place of obtaining information. Information may be 
obtained only from the Commission's offices, which are located at 1325 G 
Street, NW., Washington, DC 20576. Its official hours are 8:00 a.m. to 
6:00 p.m., Monday

[[Page 47]]

through Friday, excluding legal holidays.
    (c) Information sources within the Commission. Requests for 
Commission publications, offered for sale or informal requests for 
general information on the Commission should be directed to the Public 
Affairs Officer. All formal requests for agency records pursuant to the 
Act must be directed to the Freedom of Information Officer.

Any request directed initially to the wrong information source will be 
correctly routed by the Commission's staff and the requesting party will 
be so notified. The ten-day time period within which the Commission is 
required to determine whether to comply with a request shall not begin 
to run until the request reaches, or with the exercise of due diligence 
should have reached, the appropriate information source.
    (d) Information routinely available. The following types of 
information shall be routinely available (subject to the fee schedule, 
infra) for public dissemination without recourse to the Commission's 
formal information request procedures unless such information falls 
within one of the exemptions to agency disclosure listed in 5 U.S.C. 
552(b):
    (1) Correspondence between the Commission and the public;
    (2) Executive Director's Recommendations;
    (3) Committee Reports;
    (4) Commission Memorandums of Actions; and
    (5) Maps.

Requests for information, other than maps, shall be directed to the 
Freedom of Information Officer; map requests shall be directed to the 
Public Affairs Officer.
    (e) Formal requests for information. All formal requests for 
information pursuant to the Act shall be made in writing to the Freedom 
of Information Officer. To expedite internal handling of such requests, 
the words ``Freedom of Information Request'' shall appear on the face of 
the envelope bearing such request. The request shall state that the 
request is made pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act; shall 
reasonably describe the information sought, including the date the 
Commission received or produced the requested information, if known; 
shall state, pursuant to the fee schedule set forth infra, the maximum 
fee the party making the request would be willing to pay for the 
duplication of the requested records without further approval; and 
shall, if possible, provide a telephone number at which the requesting 
party can be contacted to facilitate handling of the request.
    (f) Commission response to formal requests. The Freedom of 
Information Officer, upon request for information made in compliance 
with these regulations, shall determine within ten days (excepting 
Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays) after the receipt of any such 
request whether to comply with such request and shall immediately notify 
the person making such request of such determination and the reasons 
therefor and of the right of such person to appeal to the head of the 
agency any adverse determination. In unusual circumstances as specified 
infra, the ten-day time limit may be extended by written notice to the 
person making the request setting forth the reasons for such extension 
and the date on which a determination is expected to be dispatched. No 
such notice shall specify a date that would result in an extension for 
more than ten working days. As used in this paragraph, ``unusual 
circumstances'' means, but only to the extent reasonably necessary to 
the proper processing of the particular request:
    (1) The need to search for and collect the requested records from 
establishments that are separate from the Commission's offices;
    (2) The need to search for, collect, and appropriately examine a 
voluminous amount of separate and distinct records which are demanded in 
a single request; or
    (3) The need for consultation, which shall be conducted with all 
practicable speed, with another agency having a substantial interest in 
the determination of the request or among two or more components of the 
agency having substantial subject matter interest therein.
    (g) Determination to grant request. If the Freedom of Information 
Officer makes a determination to grant a request in whole or in part, 
the person making such request will be so notified

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in writing. The notice shall also include a description of the 
information to be made available, a statement of the time when and the 
place where such information may be inspected or alternatively, the 
procedure for duplication and delivery (by mail or other means) of the 
information to the requesting party and a statement of the total fees 
chargeable to the requesting person pursuant to the fee schedule infra.
    (h) Determination to deny request-appeal procedure. If the Freedom 
of Information Officer makes a determination to deny, in whole or in 
part, a request for information, he shall so notify the party making the 
request in writing. Any appeal of such determination shall be made in 
writing to the Chairman of the Commission and shall include a brief 
statement of the legal, factual, or other basis for the party's 
objection to the initial decision. The Chairman shall, within twenty 
days (excepting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays) of the receipt 
of any such appeal determine whether to grant or deny the appeal and 
shall, immediately upon making his decision, give written notice of the 
decision to the party, including a brief statement of the reasons 
therefor.
    (i) Waiver. Whenever a waiver of any of the procedures set forth 
herein would further the purpose of the Act by causing the public 
disclosure of non-confidential information within the time period 
required by the Act, the Freedom of Information Officer may, in the 
context of individual requests for information, waive any of the 
procedural requirements herein.
    (j) Schedule of fees. (1) The Commission may charge the following 
fees for the production of information pursuant to the Act:
    (i) Publications offered for sale--as marked.
    (ii) Commission reports--$0.25/page.
    (iii) Committee reports--$0.25/page.
    (iv) Commission Memorandums of Actions--$0.25/page.
    (v) Transcripts of Commission meetings and Committee meetings--
$0.25/page.
    (vi) Other records--$0.25/page.
    (vii) Map publications--microfilm printout--$1.00/each; ozalid maps-
-$0.30/linear foot.
    (viii) Manual record research: $2.25 per quarter hour if conducted 
by a clerical employee; $5.00 per quarter hour if conducted by a 
professional or managerial employee. The Commission may charge for 
search costs, where applicable, even if there is ultimately no 
disclosure of records.
    (ix) Review charges: $5.00 per quarter hour. The Commission may 
charge for review costs, where applicable, even if there is ultimately 
no disclosure of records.
    (2) The Commission may charge the above-stated fees for the 
production of information pursuant to the Act, based upon the following 
requester classifications:
    (i) Commercial use requester. The Commission may charge requesters 
in this category for all the direct costs of searching for, reviewing 
for release, and duplicating the records sought. In determining whether 
a request is for commercial use, the Commission will look to the use to 
which a requester will put the documents requested. Where a requester 
does not explain the use or where the explanation is insufficient, the 
Commission may draw reasonable inferences from the requester's identity.
    (ii) Educational and non-commercial scientific institution 
requesters. The Commission shall provide documents to requesters in this 
category for the cost of reproduction alone, excluding charges for the 
first 100 pages. Requesters must show that the request is being made as 
authorized by or under the auspices of a qualifying institution and that 
the records sought are not for a commercial use, but are sought in 
furtherance of scholarly (if the request is from an educational 
institution) or non-commercial scientific research (if the request is 
from a non-commercial scientific institution).
    (iii) Representatives of the news media. The Commission shall 
provide documents to requesters in this category for the cost of 
reproduction alone, excluding charges for the first 100 pages.
    (iv) All other requesters. The Commission may charge requesters who 
do not fit into any of the categories above fees

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which recover the full reasonable direct costs of searching for and 
reproducing records that are responsive to the request, excluding the 
first 100 pages and first two hours of search time. Requests from record 
subjects for records about themselves filed in the Commission's system 
of records will continue to be treated under the fee provisions of the 
Privacy Act of 1974 which permit fees only for reproduction.
    (3) The Commission keeps on file a limited quantity of back copies 
of Executive Director's Recommendations, Committee Reports, and 
Commission Memorandums of Actions. The Commission will first attempt to 
fill specific requests for these documents from its supply of back 
copies and until the supply is exhausted, the Commission will provide 
the documents at no charge. Once the supply is exhausted, the requested 
documents will be provided in accord with the fee schedule.
    (4) The Commission may not charge fees to any requester if the cost 
of collecting the fee would be equal to or greater than the fee itself. 
The minimum fee for the production of information will be $2.00 (over 
and above the first free 100 pages and 2 hours search time, where 
applicable). The Commission's Freedom of Information Officer shall 
provide documents furnished under the Act without any charge or at a 
charge reduced below the fees established under Sec. 456.3(j)(1) if 
disclosure of the information is in the public interest because it is 
likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the 
operations or activities of the government and it is not primarily in 
the commercial interest of the requester.
    (5) In deciding whether a fee waiver or reduction under 
Sec. 456.4(j)(4) is justified, the Commission will consider the 
following factors:
    (i) The subject of the request: Whether the subject of the requested 
records concerns ``the operations or activities of the Government'';
    (ii) The informative value of the information to be disclosed: 
Whether the disclosure is ``likely to contribute'' to an understanding 
of government operations or activities;
    (iii) The contribution to an understanding of the subject by the 
general public likely to result from disclosure: Whether disclosure of 
the requested information will contribute to ``public understanding''; 
and
    (iv) The significance of the contribution to public understanding: 
Whether the disclosure is likely to contribute ``significantly'' to 
public understanding of government perations or activities.
    (v) The existence and magnitude of a commercial interest: Whether 
the requester has a commercial interest that would be furthered by the 
requested disclosure; and, if so
    (vi) The primary interest in disclosure: Whether the magnitude of 
the identified commercial interest of the requester is sufficiently 
large, in comparison with the public interest disclosure, that 
disclosure is ``primarily in the commercial interest of the requester.''
    (k) Prior approval or advance deposit of fees. (1) Where the agency 
estimates that duplication, review or search charges are likely to 
exceed $25.00, it shall notify the requester of the estimated amount of 
fees, unless the requester has indicated in advance his or her 
willingness to pay fees as high as those estimated. Where the fees 
anticipated to result from a request are substantially greater than the 
amount estimated in the written request, the persons requesting the 
information shall be immediately notified of the estimated fees and his 
approval of such fees requested. Such person shall also be afforded the 
opportunity to revise his or her request to reduce the fees but satisfy 
his or her needs for information.
    (2) Where the Freedom of Information Officer determines that fees 
are likely to exceed $250.00, the Commission may require advance payment 
of the fee in whole or in part. Where a requester has previously failed 
to pay a fee charged in a timely manner or is presently in arrears, the 
Commission may require the requester to pay the full amount owed and to 
make an advance payment of the full amount of the estimated fees before 
the agency begins to process a new request or completes a pending 
request.

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    (3) The dispatch of any such request for an estimated fee approval 
or advance deposit shall suspend, until a reply is received by the 
Freedom of Information Officer, the period pursuant to 5 U.S.C., 552 and 
paragraph (f) supra within which the Freedom of Information Officer must 
respond to a written request for information.
    (4) A requester may not file multiple requests at the same time, 
each seeking portions of a document(s), solely in order to avoid payment 
of fees. When the Commission reasonably believes a requester(s) is 
attempting to break a request down into a series of requests for the 
purpose of evading the assessment of fees, the Commission may aggregate 
any such requests and charge accordingly.
    (l) Payment of fees. Fees charged a person for the production of 
information must be paid in full prior to release of the information. 
Payment of fees shall be made by a personal check, postal money order or 
bank draft on a bank in the United States, made payable to the order of 
the Treasurer of the United States.

[47 FR 44229, Oct. 7, 1982. Redesignated and amended at 52 FR 34373-
34374, Sept. 11, 1987]