§265.6. Responses to requests. — Inbound Citations

(1) Ordinarily, a party seeking to obtain records from the Postal Service should submit a request in accordance with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552, and the Postal Service's regulations implementing the FOIA at 39 CFR 265.1 through 265.9, 265.14; or the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. 552a and the Postal Service's regulations implementing the Privacy Act at 39 CFR 266.1 through 266.10.

(5) is the examination of a record located in response to a request in order to determine whether any portion of it is exempt from disclosure. Review time includes processing any record for disclosure, such as doing all that is necessary to prepare the record for disclosure, including the process of redacting the record and marking the appropriate exemptions. Review costs are properly charged even if a record ultimately is not disclosed. Review time also includes time spent both obtaining and considering any formal objection to disclosure made by a confidential commercial information submitter under § 265.6, but it does not include time spent resolving general legal or policy issues regarding the application of exemptions.

(h) The following definitions apply to this section.

Authorizing official means the Inspector General or an official designated by the Inspector General to authorize release of documents or employee testimony.

Case or matter means any civil or criminal proceeding before a court of law, administrative board, hearing officer, or other body conducting a judicial or administrative proceeding. The term also includes proceedings in legislative bodies other than the Congress of the United States.

Demand means any request, order, or subpoena for testimony or the production of documents.

Document includes all information falling within the scope of the terms “documents” and “electronically stored information” in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34(a) and any analogous rules applicable to the case or matter in which a demand is made.

Employee includes all current and former employees of the Office of Inspector General (whether temporary or permanent, part-time or full-time), employees of the Postal Service assigned or detailed to the Office of Inspector General, student interns, student cooperatives, contractors, and employees of contractors who have or had access to Office of Inspector General information and records.

Nonpublic means all documents or information not subject to mandatory public disclosure under 39 CFR 265.6(b) or that must be kept confidential under the Inspector General Act of 1978 as amended, 5 U.S.C. app. 3.

Testify or testimony include in-person oral statements before any body conducting a judicial, administrative, or legislative proceeding, statements made in depositions, answers to interrogatories, declarations, affidavits, or other similar documents.

(3) Copies of all records, regardless of form or format, that have been released to any person pursuant to the FOIA; and that because of the nature of their subject matter, the Postal Service determines have become or are likely to become the subject of subsequent requests for substantially the same records; or that have been requested 3 or more times, as well as a general index of such records. Records processed and disclosed after March 31, 1997, are available for inspection and copying at the Headquarters Library. Any such records created by the Postal Service on or after November 1, 1996, also will be available at the Postal Service's Web site identified at § 265.2(b). Records described in this paragraph that were not created by, or on behalf of, the Postal Service generally will not be available at the Web site. Records will be available in the form in which they were originally disclosed, except to the extent that they contain information that is not appropriate for public disclosure and may be withheld pursuant to this section. Any deleted material will be marked and the applicable exemptions indicated in accordance with § 265.6(d).