Collapse to view only § 7.27 - What are the designated DOT FOIA Requester Service Centers?

§ 7.21 - What does this subpart cover?

(a) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (b) of this section, this subpart applies to reasonably described records that are made available in response to written requests under FOIA.

(b) This subpart does not apply to:

(1) Records published in the Federal Register.

(2) Records published and offered for sale.

(3) Records (other than frequently requested records) made available in a reading room.

(4) Records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes and covered by the disclosure exemption described in § 7.23(c)(7)(A) if—

(i) The investigation or proceeding involves a possible violation of criminal law; and

(ii) There is reason to believe that—

(A) The subject of the investigation or proceeding is not aware of its pendency; and

(B) Disclosure of the existence of the records could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings.

(5) Informant records maintained by any criminal law enforcement component of DOT under an informant's name or personal identifier, if requested by a third party according to the informant's name or personal identifier, unless the informant's status as an informant has been officially confirmed.

§ 7.22 - Who administers this subpart?

(a) A Chief FOIA Officer is appointed by the Secretary to oversee DOT's compliance with the Act pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552(k). The DOT Chief FOIA Officer is designated at 49 CFR 1.27a as the Career Deputy General Counsel.

(b) Each DOT FOIA Requester Service Center listed in § 7.27 is the initial point of contact for providing information about its processing of requests.

(c) One or more Public Liaisons are designated by the Chief FOIA Officer for each DOT FOIA Requester Service Center listed in § 7.27. Public Liaisons assist requesters in reducing delays and resolving disputes, as described in 5 U.S.C. 552(k)(6).

(d) Authority to administer this subpart and to issue determinations with respect to initial requests and appeals of initial denials has been delegated as follows:

(1) To the General Counsel for the records of the Office of the Secretary by 49 CFR 1.27.

(2) To the Inspector General for records of the Office of Inspector General by 49 CFR 1.74.

(3) To the Administrator of each DOT Operating Administration for records of that component by 49 CFR 1.81.

(4) Each responsible DOT official may redelegate the authority to issue final determinations of appeals of initial denials to that official's deputy or to not more than one other officer who reports directly to the official and who is located at the headquarters of that DOT component.

(5) Any such final determination by an Administrator or an Administrator's designee (following an appeal of an initial denial) is subject to concurrence by the General Counsel or the General Counsel's designee, if the final determination is not to disclose a record or portion of a record under this part, or not to grant a request for a fee waiver or reduction.

(6) The Inspector General or the Inspector General's designee must consult with the General Counsel or the General Counsel's designee before issuing a final determination following an appeal of an initial denial, if the final determination is not to disclose a record or portion of a record under this part, or not to grant a request for a fee waiver or reduction.

§ 7.23 - What limitations apply to disclosure?

(a) Policy. It is DOT policy to make its records available to the public to the greatest extent possible, in keeping with the spirit of FOIA. This includes releasing reasonably segregable and meaningful nonexempt information in a document from which exempt information is withheld.

(b) Statutory disclosure requirement. As provided in 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(3)(A), DOT makes reasonably described records available upon request from a member of the public, when the request is submitted in accordance with this subpart, except to the extent that the records contain information exempt from FOIA's mandate of disclosure as provided in 5 U.S.C. 552(b).

(c) Statutory exemptions. Exempted from FOIA's statutory disclosure requirement are matters that are:

(1) Specifically authorized under criteria established by an Executive Order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy, and are in fact properly classified pursuant to such Executive Order;

(2) Related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an agency;

(3) Specifically exempted from disclosure by statute (other than the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. 552a, or Open Meetings Act, 5 U.S.C. 552b, as amended), in that the statute:

(i) Requires that the matters be withheld from the public in such a manner as to leave no discretion on the issue, establishes particular criteria for withholding, or refers to particular types of matters to be withheld; or

(ii) Specifically allows withholding from release under FOIA by citation to 5 U.S.C. 552;

(4) Trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential;

(5) Inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or letters that would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency, provided that the deliberative process privilege shall not apply to records created 25 years or more before the date on which the records were requested;

(6) Personnel and medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;

(7) Records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that the production of such law enforcement records or information—

(i) Could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings;

(ii) Would deprive a person of a right to a fair or an impartial adjudication;

(iii) Could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;

(iv) Could reasonably be expected to disclose the identity of a confidential source, including a State, local, tribal, or foreign agency or authority or any private institution which furnished information on a confidential basis, and, in the case of a record or information compiled by a criminal law enforcement authority in the course of a criminal investigation or by an agency conducting a lawful national security intelligence investigation, information furnished by a confidential source;

(v) Would disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions or would disclose guidelines for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions, if such disclosure could reasonably be expected to risk circumvention of the law; or

(vi) Could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual;

(8) Contained in or related to examination, operating, or condition reports prepared by, on behalf of, or for the use of an agency responsible for the regulation or supervision of financial institutions; or

(9) Geological and geophysical information and data, including maps, concerning wells.

(d) Application of exemptions. DOT shall withhold information pursuant to a statutory exemption only if:

(1) DOT reasonably foresees that disclosure would harm an interest protected by an exemption under paragraph (c) of this section; or

(2) Disclosure is prohibited by law or otherwise exempted from disclosure under paragraph (c)(3) of this section.

(e) Redacted information. DOT indicates the amount of information redacted from records released under the FOIA and the exemption(s) relied upon in redacting the information, at the place in the record where the redaction is made, when technically feasible and when doing so does not harm an interest protected by the exemption concerned.

(f) Non-confidentiality of requests. DOT releases the names of FOIA requesters and descriptions of the records they have sought, as shown on DOT FOIA logs, except to the extent that a statutory exemption authorizes or requires withholding of the log information.

[79 FR 16209, Mar. 25, 2014, as amended at 82 FR 21139, May 5, 2017; 82 FR 25740, June 5, 2017]

§ 7.24 - How do I submit a FOIA request?

(a) Each person desiring access to or a copy of a record covered by this subpart must make a written request (via paper, facsimile or electronic mail) for the record. The request should—

(1) Indicate that it is being made under FOIA;

(2) Display the word “FOIA” prominently on the envelope or on the subject line of the email or facsimile;

(3) Be addressed to the appropriate FOIA Requester Service Center as set forth in § 7.27;

(4) State the format (e.g., paper, compact disc) in which the information is sought, if the requester has a preference (see § 7.26(c)); and

(5) Describe the record or records sought to the fullest extent possible. In this regard, the request should describe the subject matter of the record and, if known, indicate the date when it was made, the place where it was made, and the individual or office that made it. If the description does not enable the office handling the request to identify or locate the record sought, that office will contact the requester for additional information. So that the office may contact the requester for additional information, the request should provide the requester's complete contact information, including name, address, telephone number, and email address, if any.

(b) With respect to fees, the request must—

(1) Specify the fee category (commercial use, news media, educational institution, noncommercial scientific institution, or other; see § 7.42(g)) in which the requester claims the request falls and the basis of this claim (see subpart E of this Part for fees and fee waiver requirements);

(2) Support any request for fee waiver by addressing, to the fullest extent possible, how the criteria set out in § 7.43(c) for establishing that the request is in the public interest have been met, if relevant;

(3) State the maximum amount of fees that the requester is willing to pay and/or include a request for a fee waiver or reduction (if a maximum amount is not stated by the requester, DOT will assume the requester is willing to pay up to US $25);

(c) If the requester seeks expedited processing at the time of the initial request, the request must include a statement supporting expedited processing, as set forth in § 7.31(c);

(d) A request is not considered to be a FOIA request if the record or records sought are insufficiently described such that DOT is unable to respond as required by FOIA. The twenty Federal working day limit for responding to requests, described in § 7.31(a)(2), will not start to run until the request is determined by DOT to be sufficiently understood to enable DOT to respond as contemplated under FOIA (or would have been so determined with the exercise of due diligence by an employee of DOT) and is considered received (see paragraph (e)); and

(e) Provided the request is considered to be a FOIA request (see paragraph (d)), the request is considered received when it is first received by the FOIA office to which it should have been originally sent, as shown in § 7.27, but in any event not later than ten Federal working days after it is first received by any DOT FOIA Requester Service Center identified in § 7.27.

(f) As provided in § 7.35, DOT's time limit for responding to a FOIA request as set forth in subpart D may be tolled one time to seek additional information needed to clarify the request and as often as necessary to clarify fee issues with the requester.

§ 7.25 - How does DOT handle first-party requests?

(a) DOT processes FOIA requests from first-party requesters in accordance with this regulation. DOT also processes such requests in accordance with the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a) if the records reside in a Privacy Act system of records (defined in 5 U.S.C. 552a(a)(5) as a system from which information is retrieved by the individual's name or some other personal identifier). Whichever statute provides greater access is controlling.

(b) First party requesters must establish their identity to DOT's satisfaction before DOT will process the request under the Privacy Act. DOT may request that first party requesters authenticate their identity to assist with our evaluation of the application of FOIA exemptions, such as FOIA Exemption 6, 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(6), to the requested records. Acceptable methods of authenticating the requester's identity include those outlined in DOT's Privacy Act regulations at 49 CFR 10.37.

§ 7.26 - To what extent and in what format are records searched and made available?

(a) Existing records. A request may seek only records that are in existence at the time of the request. In determining which records are responsive to a request, DOT ordinarily will include only records in its possession as of the date it begins its search for them. If any other date is used, DOT will inform the requester of that date. DOT considers records created after the beginning of the search to be non-responsive to a request. A request made under this subpart may not require that new records be created in response to the request by, for example, combining or compiling selected items from manual files, preparing a new computer program, or calculating proportions, percentages, frequency distributions, trends, or comparisons. DOT may, in its discretion, create a new record as an alternative to disclosing existing records, if DOT determines that creating a new record will be less burdensome than disclosing large volumes of unassembled material and if the requester consents to accept the newly-created record in lieu of the existing records.

(b) Electronic records. DOT makes a reasonable effort to search electronic records without significantly interfering with the operation of the affected information system.

(c) Format of production. DOT provides records in the form or format sought by the requester, if the records are readily reproducible in that form or format.

(d) Photocopying of records. Original records ordinarily are copied except where, in DOT's judgment, copying would endanger the quality of the original or raise the reasonable possibility of irreparable harm to the record. Original records are not released from DOT custody. DOT may make records requested under this subpart available for inspection and copying during regular business hours at the place where the records are located.

(e) If no responsive record is located. If DOT cannot locate a requested record in agency files after a reasonable search (e.g., because the record was never created or was disposed of), DOT so notifies the requester.

§ 7.27 - What are the designated DOT FOIA Requester Service Centers?

(a) A request for a record under this subpart may be submitted via paper, facsimile, or electronic mail to the FOIA Requester Service Center designated for the DOT component where the records are located, at the electronic mail addresses or facsimile numbers identified at https://www.transportation.gov/foia or the mailing addresses indicated below (unless a more up-to-date mailing address has been designated at https://www.transportation.gov/foia):

(1) FOIA Requester Service Centers at 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590:

(i) FOIA Requester Service Center at Federal Highway Administration, Room E64–302 (unless a more specific address has been designated by FHWA at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/foia);

(ii) FOIA Requester Service Center at Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Room W66–458;

(iii) FOIA Requester Service Center at Federal Railroad Administration, Room W33–437;

(iv) FOIA Requester Service Center at Federal Transit Administration, Room E42–315;

(v) FOIA Requester Service Center at Maritime Administration, Room W24–233;

(vi) FOIA Requester Service Center at National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Room W41–311;

(vii) FOIA Requester Service Center at Office of the Secretary of Transportation, Room W94–122;

(viii) FOIA Requester Service Center at Office of Inspector General, Room W70–329;

(ix) FOIA Requester Service Center at Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Room E23–306; and

(2) FOIA Requester Service Center at Federal Aviation Administration, 800 Independence Avenue SW., Room 306, Washington, DC 20591 (unless a more specific address has been designated by FAA at http://www.faa.dot.gov/foia).

(3) FOIA Requester Service Center at Associate Administrator's Office, Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, 180 Andrews Street, P.O. Box 520, Massena, NY 13662–0520.

(b) If the person making the request does not know where in DOT the records are located, the person may submit the request to the FOIA Requester Service Center at Office of the Secretary of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Room W94–122, Washington, DC 20590 or by facsimile: 202–366–8536. Requesters also may contact the FOIA Requester Service Center at the Office of the Secretary of Transportation at 202–366–4542 with questions about how to submit a FOIA request or to confirm the mailing addresses indicated in this part.

(c) Requests for records under this part, and FOIA inquiries generally, may be made by accessing the DOT Home Page on the Internet (https://www.transportation.gov) and clicking on the Freedom of Information Act link (https://www.transportation.gov/foia).

[79 FR 16209, Mar. 25, 2014, as amended at 82 FR 21139, May 5, 2017]

§ 7.28 - How does DOT handle requests that concern more than one Government agency?

(a) If the release of a DOT-created record covered by this subpart would be of concern to DOT and one or more other Federal agencies, the determination as to release is made by DOT, but only after consultation with the other concerned agency.

(b) If the release of a DOT-created record covered by this subpart would be of concern to DOT and a State, local, or tribal Government, a territory or possession of the United States, or a foreign Government, the determination as to release is made by DOT, but only after consultation with the other concerned Governmental jurisdiction.

(c) DOT refers a request for a non-DOT-created record covered by this subpart (or the relevant portion thereof) for decision by the Federal agency that is best able to determine the record's exemption status (usually, this is the agency that originated the record), but only if that agency is subject to FOIA. DOT makes such referrals expeditiously and notifies the requester in writing that a referral has been made. DOT informs the requester that the Federal agency to which DOT referred the request will respond to the request, unless DOT is precluded from attributing the record in question to that agency.

(d) DOT components will handle all consultations and referrals they receive from other agencies or DOT components according to the date the FOIA request initially was received by the first agency or DOT component, not any later date.

§ 7.29 - When and how does DOT consult with submitters of commercial information?

(a) If DOT receives a request for a record that includes information designated by the submitter of the information as confidential commercial information, or that DOT has some other reason to believe may contain information of that type (see § 7.23(c)(4)), DOT notifies the submitter expeditiously and asks the submitter to submit any written objections to release (unless paragraphs (c) and (d) of this section apply). At the same time, DOT notifies the requester that notice and an opportunity to comment are being provided to the submitter. To the extent permitted by law, DOT affords the submitter a reasonable period of time to provide a detailed statement of any such objections. The submitter's statement must specify all grounds for withholding any of the information. The burden is on the submitter to identify with specificity all information for which exempt treatment is sought and to persuade the agency that the information should not be disclosed.

(b) The responsible DOT component, to the extent permitted by law, considers carefully a submitter's objections and specific grounds for nondisclosure prior to determining whether to disclose commercial information. Whenever DOT decides to disclose such information over the objection of a submitter, the office responsible for the decision provides the submitter with a written notice of intent to disclose, which is sent to the submitter a reasonable number of days prior to the specified date upon which disclosure is intended. The written notice to the submitter includes:

(1) A statement of the reasons for which the submitter's disclosure objections were not accepted;

(2) A description of the commercial information to be disclosed; and

(3) A specific disclosure date.

(c) The notice requirements of this section do not apply if:

(1) DOT determines that the information should not be disclosed;

(2) The information lawfully has been published or otherwise made available to the public; or

(3) Disclosure of the information is required by law (other than 5 U.S.C. 552).

(d) The procedures established in this section do not apply in the case of:

(1) Information submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and addressed in 49 CFR part 512.

(2) Information contained in a document to be filed or in oral testimony that is sought to be withheld pursuant to Rule 12 of the Rules of Practice in Aviation Economic Proceedings (14 CFR 302.12).

(3) Information submitted to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and addressed in 49 CFR 389.9.

(e) Whenever a requester brings suit seeking to compel disclosure of confidential commercial information, the responsible DOT component promptly notifies the submitter. The submitter may be joined as a necessary party in any suit brought against DOT or a DOT component for nondisclosure.

[79 FR 16209, Mar. 25, 2014, as amended at 82 FR 21139, May 5, 2017]