[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 32, Volume 5]
[Revised as of July 1, 2005]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 32CFR701.18]

[Page 69-70]
 
                       TITLE 32--NATIONAL DEFENSE
 
                   CHAPTER VI--DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY
 
PART 701_AVAILABILITY OF DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY RECORDS AND PUBLICATION 
OF DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY DOCUMENTS AFFECTING THE PUBLIC--Table of Contents
 
                  Subpart B_FOIA Definitions and Terms
 
Sec. 701.18  Agency record.

    Agency records are either created or obtained by an agency and under 
agency control at the time of the FOIA request. Agency records are 
stored as various kinds of media, such as:
    (a) Products of data compilation (all books, maps, photographs, 
machine readable materials, inclusive of those in electronic form or 
format, or other documentary materials), regardless of physical form or 
characteristics, made or received by an agency of the United States 
Government under Federal law in connection with the transaction of 
public business and in Department of

[[Page 70]]

the Navy possession and control at the time the FOIA request is made.
    (b) Care should be taken not to exclude records from being 
considered agency records, unless they fall within one of the following 
categories:
    (1) Objects or articles, such as structures, furniture, paintings, 
three-dimensional models, vehicles, equipment, parts of aircraft, ships, 
etc., whatever their historical value or value as evidence.
    (2) Anything that is not a tangible or documentary record, such as 
an individual's memory or oral communication.
    (3) Personal records of an individual not subject to agency creation 
or retention requirements, created and maintained primarily for the 
convenience of an agency employee, and not distributed to other agency 
employees for their official use. Personal papers fall into three 
categories: those created before entering Government service; private 
materials brought into, created, or received in the office that were not 
created or received in the course of transacting Government business, 
and work-related personal papers that are not used in the transaction of 
Government business.
    (4) A record must exist and be in the possession and control of the 
DON at the time of the request to be considered subject to this 
instruction and the FOIA. There is no obligation to create, compile, or 
obtain a record to satisfy a FOIA request.
    (5) Hard copy or electronic records, which are subject to FOIA 
requests under 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(3), and which are available to the public 
through an established distribution system, or through the Federal 
Register, the National Technical Information Service, or the Internet, 
normally need not be processed under the provisions of the FOIA. If a 
request is received for such information, DON activities shall provide 
the requester with guidance, inclusive of any written notice to the 
public, on how to obtain the information. However, if the requester 
insists that the request be processed under the FOIA, then process the 
request under FOIA.