[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 19, Volume 1]

[Revised as of April 1, 2005]

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

[CITE: 19CFR103.6]



[Page 489-490]

 

                        TITLE 19--CUSTOMS DUTIES

 

   CHAPTER I--BUREAU OF CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION, DEPARTMENT OF 

              HOMELAND SECURITY; DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

 

PART 103_AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION--Table of Contents

 

 Subpart A_Production of Documents/Disclosure of Information Under the 

                                  FOIA

 

Sec.  103.6  Grant or denial of initial request.



    (a) Officers designated to make initial determinations--(1) Service 

ports. The appropriate director of a service port, or in the case of 

records of the Office of Investigations, the appropriate special agent 

in charge (SAC), shall make any initial determination of a request for a 

record which is maintained, respectively, at that service port or under 

the SAC's jurisdiction.

    (2) Headquarters. For records located at Customs Service 

Headquarters, the initial determination to grant or deny a request shall 

be made by the appropriate Division Director at Customs Service 

Headquarters having custody of or functional jurisdiction over the 

subject matter of the requested records. In the event the request 

relates to records which are maintained in an office which is not within 

a division, the initial determination shall be made by the individual 

designated for that purpose by the Assistant Commissioner having 

responsibility for that office.

    (b) Time limit for initial determinations. The time limit for making 

an initial determination to grant or deny a request for records, 

including the time for notifying the requester of that determination, is 

10 days (excepting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal public holidays) after 

the date of receipt of the request (see Sec.  103.5(f)), unless the 

designated officer invokes an extension pursuant to Sec.  103.8(a) or 

the requester otherwise agrees to an extension.

    (c) Grant of request. If the appropriate Customs officer grants a 

request, and if the requester wants a copy of the requested records, 

that officer shall mail a copy of those records to the requester 

together with a statement of the fees for search and duplication at the 

time of the determination or promptly thereafter. If a requester wants 

to inspect the record, the appropriate Customs officer who grants the 

request



[[Page 490]]



shall send written notice to the requester stating the time and place of 

inspection and the amount of any fee involved in the request. In such a 

case, the appropriate Customs officer shall make the record available 

for inspection at the time and place stated, but in a manner so as not 

to interfere with its use by the United States Customs Service or to 

exclude other persons from making an inspection. In addition, reasonable 

limitations may be placed on the number of records which may be 

inspected by a person on any given date. The requester is not allowed to 

remove a record from the inspection room. If, after making inspection, 

the requester wants a copy of all or a portion of the requested record, 

the appropriate Customs officer shall supply the desired copy upon 

payment of the established fee prescribed in Sec.  103.10.

    (d) Denial of request. The Customs officer who denies a request for 

records (whether in whole or in part) shall mail written notice of the 

denial to the requester. The letter of notificatimn shall contain (1) 

the physical location of the requested records, (2) the applicable 

exemption(s) and reason for not granting the request, (3) the name and 

title or position of the Customs officer who denied the request, (4) 

advice on the right to administrative appeal in accordance with Sec.  

103.7, and (5) the title and address of the Customs officer who is to 

decide any appeal.

    (e) Inability to locate records within time limits. If a requested 

record cannot be located and evaluated within the initial 10-day period 

or the extension period allowed under Sec.  103.8(a), the Customs 

officer who is responsible for the initial determination shall continue 

to search for the records. However, that officer shall also notify the 

requester of the facts and inform the requester that he or she may 

consider the notification to be a denial of access within the meaning of 

paragraph (d) of this section, and provide the requester with the 

address for the submission of an administrative appeal. The requester 

may also be invited, in the alternative, to agree to a voluntary 

extension of time in which to locate and evaluate the records. A 

voluntary extension of time does not waive a requester's right to appeal 

any ultimate denial of access or to appeal a failure to locate the 

records within the voluntary extension period.



[T.D. 81-168, 46 FR 32565, June 24, 1981, as amended by T.D. 96-36, 61 

FR 19838, May 3, 1996]