§ 402.105. Appeals of the FOIA Officer's determination.
394 words·~2 min read·
/us/cfr/t20/s§ 402.105·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
(a)Appeal requirements. If a requester disagrees with the FOIA Officer's determination in response to items specified in § 402.50(a), the requester may appeal the decision. The appeal must meet the following requirements:
(1)Be submitted in writing via the avenues identified in § 402.35(a);
(2)Be received, or in the case of electronic submissions, transmitted within 90 calendar days from the date of the determination the requester is appealing; and
(3)Explain what the requester is appealing and include additional information to support the appeal. The appeal should clearly identify the agency determination that is being appealed and the assigned request's tracking number. To facilitate handling when submitted via mail or fax, the requester should mark the appeal letter, or subject line of the electronic transmission, “Freedom of Information Act Appeal.”
(b)Acknowledgement. If we receive an appeal that will take longer than 10 working days to process, we will provide an acknowledgment. The acknowledgement is provided via email or, when the requester does not provide an email address, via U.S. postal mail. The acknowledgement email or letter restates the FOIA appeal and provides the requester with the appeal's tracking number.
(c)Processing timeframe. FOIA appeals are categorized as either simple or complex, based on the designation of the initial request.
(1)Simple. Generally, we make a determination about release of the requested record(s) within 20-working days.
(2)Complex. Appeals of complex requests cannot be completed within 20-working days. During OPD's processing of the appeal, OPD will need to consult with appropriate SSA component(s), including legal counsel; therefore, we generally require more than 20-working days to issue a final decision on the appeal.
(d)Final decision. The Chief FOIA Officer delegated to the Executive Director for OPD the authority to make decisions on appeals of the FOIA Officer's determinations.
(1)The final decision is provided in writing to the requester via email or, in the absence of the requester's email address, via U.S. postal mail.
(2)The final decision letter will explain the basis of the decision (for example, the reasons why an exemption applies).
(e)Disagreement with final decision. If a requester disagrees with the final decision issued by the Executive Director for OPD, they may seek assistance from OGIS, as described in § 402.100. Requesters may also ask a U.S. District Court to review our final decision. See 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(4)(B).
Connections1 cite this · traces to 1
Cited by 1 section
Traces to 1 document
Citation graph
cites case law
Cites 1Cited by 1 across 1 source