[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 28, Volume 1]

[Revised as of July 1, 2005]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 28CFR16.3]



[Page 268-269]

 

                    TITLE 28--JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION

 

                    CHAPTER I--DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

 

PART 16_PRODUCTION OR DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL OR INFORMATION--Table of 

Contents

 

  Subpart A_Procedures for Disclosure of Records Under the Freedom of 

                             Information Act

 

Sec. 16.3  Requirements for making requests.



    (a) How made and addressed. You may make a request for records of 

the Department of Justice by writing directly to the Department 

component that maintains those records. You may find the Department's 

``Freedom of Information Act Reference Guide''--which is available 

electronically at the Department's World Wide Web site, and is available 

in paper form as well--helpful in making your request. For additional 

information about the FOIA, you may refer directly to the statute. If 

you are making a request for records about yourself, see Sec. 16.41(d) 

for additional requirements. If you are making a request for records 

about another individual, either a written authorization signed by that 

individual permitting disclosure of those records to you or proof that 

that individual is deceased (for example, a copy of a death certificate 

or an obituary) will help the processing of your request. Your request 

should be sent to the component's FOIA office at the address listed in 

appendix I to part 16. In most cases, your FOIA request should be sent 

to a component's central FOIA office. For records held by a field office 

of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) or the Immigration and 

Naturalization Service (INS), however, you must write directly to that 

FBI or INS field office address, which can be found in most telephone 

books or by calling the component's central FOIA office. (The functions 

of each component are summarized in part 0 of this title and in the 

description of the Department and its components in the ``United States 

Government Manual,'' which is issued annually and is available in most 

libraries, as well as for sale from the Government Printing Office's 

Superintendent of Documents. This manual also can be accessed 

electronically at the Government Printing Office's World Wide Web site 

(which can be found at http://www.access.gpo.gov/



[[Page 269]]



su--docs).) If you cannot determine where within the Department to send 

your request, you may send it to the FOIA/PA Mail Referral Unit, Justice 

Management Division, U.S. Department of Justice, 950 Pennsylvania 

Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20530-0001. That office will forward your 

request to the component(s) it believes most likely to have the records 

that you want. Your request will be considered received as of the date 

it is received by the proper component's FOIA office. For the quickest 

possible handling, you should mark both your request letter and the 

envelope ``Freedom of Information Act Request.''

    (b) Description of records sought. You must describe the records 

that you seek in enough detail to enable Department personnel to locate 

them with a reasonable amount of effort. Whenever possible, your request 

should include specific information about each record sought, such as 

the date, title or name, author, recipient, and subject matter of the 

record. In addition, if you want records about a court case, you should 

provide the title of the case, the court in which the case was filed, 

and the nature of the case. If known, you should include any file 

designations or descriptions for the records that you want. As a general 

rule, the more specific you are about the records or type of records 

that you want, the more likely the Department will be able to locate 

those records in response to your request. If a component determines 

that your request does not reasonably describe records, it shall tell 

you either what additional information is needed or why your request is 

otherwise insufficient. The component also shall give you an opportunity 

to discuss your request so that you may modify it to meet the 

requirements of this section. If your request does not reasonably 

describe the records you seek, the agency's response to your request may 

be delayed.

    (c) Agreement to pay fees. If you make a FOIA request, it shall be 

considered an agreement by you to pay all applicable fees charged under 

Sec. 16.11, up to $25.00, unless you seek a waiver of fees. The 

component responsible for responding to your request ordinarily will 

confirm this agreement in an acknowledgement letter. When making a 

request, you may specify a willingness to pay a greater or lesser 

amount.



[Order No. 2156-98, 63 FR 29593, June 1, 1998; 63 FR 51401, Sept. 25, 

1998]