[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 6, Volume 1]
[Revised as of January 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 6CFR5.6]

[Page 10-11]
 
                       TITLE 6--HOMELAND SECURITY
 
   CHAPTER I--DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY
 
PART 5_DISCLOSURE OF RECORDS AND INFORMATION--Table of Contents
 
                  Subpart A_Freedom of Information Act
 
Sec.  5.6  Responses to requests.

    (a) Acknowledgements of requests. On receipt of a request, a 
component ordinarily shall send an acknowledgement letter to the 
requester which shall confirm the requester's agreement to pay fees 
under Sec.  5.3(c) and provide an assigned request number for further 
reference.
    (b) Grants of requests. Ordinarily, a component shall have twenty 
business days from when a request is received to determine whether to 
grant or deny the request. Once a component makes a determination to 
grant a request in whole or in part, it shall notify the requester in 
writing. The component shall inform the requester in the notice of any 
fee charged under Sec.  5.11 and shall disclose records to the requester 
promptly on payment of any applicable fee. Records disclosed in part 
shall be marked or annotated to show the amount of information deleted 
unless doing so would harm an interest protected by an applicable 
exemption. The location of the information deleted also shall be 
indicated on the record, if technically feasible.
    (c) Adverse determinations of requests. A component making an 
adverse determination denying a request in any respect shall notify the 
requester of that determination in writing. Adverse determinations, or 
denials of requests, consist of: A determination to withhold any 
requested record in whole or in part; a determination that a requested 
record does not exist or cannot be located; a determination that a 
record is not readily reproducible in the form or format sought by the 
requester; a determination that what has been requested is not a record 
subject to the FOIA; a determination on any disputed fee matter, 
including a denial of a request for a fee waiver; and a denial of a 
request for expedited processing. The denial letter shall be signed by 
the head of the component, or the component head's designee, and shall 
include:
    (1) The name and title or position of the person responsible for the 
denial;
    (2) A brief statement of the reason(s) for the denial, including any 
FOIA exemption applied by the component in denying the request;
    (3) An estimate of the volume of records or information withheld, in 
number of pages or in some other reasonable form of estimation. This 
estimate does not need to be provided if the volume is otherwise 
indicated through deletions on records disclosed in part, or if 
providing an estimate would harm an interest protected by an applicable 
exemption; and

[[Page 11]]

    (4) A statement that the denial may be appealed under Sec.  5.9(a) 
and a description of the requirements of Sec.  5.9(a).