45 C.F.R. Subpart B—Obtaining a Record
Title 45 - Public Welfare
(a) General. Our policy is to answer all requests, both oral and written, for records. However, in order to have the rights given you by the FOIA and by this regulation (for example, the right to appeal if we deny your request and the right to have our decisions reviewed in court), you must either make your request in writing or make it orally to a Freedom of Information Officer. Freedom of Information Officers and their staffs may put in writing any oral requests they receive directly. (b) Addressing requests. It will help us to handle your request sooner if you address it to the Freedom of Information Officer in the HHS unit that is most likely to have the records you want. (See §5.31 of this Part for a list of Freedom of Information Officers.) If you cannot determine this, send the request to: HHS Freedom of Information Officer, 645–F, Hubert H. Humphrey Building, Department of Health and Human Services, 200 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20201. Write the words “Freedom of Information Act Request” on the envelope and letter. (c) Details in the letter. You should provide details that will help us identify and find the records you are requesting. If there is insufficient information, we will ask you for more. Include your telephone number(s) to help us reach you if we have questions. If you are not sure how to write your request or what details to include, communicate with a Freedom of Information Officer. (a) We will not handle your request under the FOIA and this regulation to the extent it asks for records that are currently available, either from HHS or from another part of the Federal Government, under a statute that provides for charging fees for those records. For example, we will not handle your request under the FOIA and this regulation to the extent it asks for detailed earnings statements under the Social Security program, or records currently available from the Government Printing Office of the National Technical Information Service. (b) We will not handle your request under the FOIA and this regulation to the extent it asks for records that are distributed by an HHS program office as part of its regular program activity, for example, health education brochures distributed by the Public Health Service or public information leaflets distributed by the Social Security Administration. If you request records that were created by, or provided to us by, another Federal agency, and if that agency asserts control over the records, we may refer the records and your request to that agency. We may likewise refer requests for classified records to the agency that classified them. In these cases, the other agency will process and respond to your request, to the extent it concerns those records, under that agency's regulation, and you need not make a separate request to that agency. We will notify you when we refer your request to another agency. (a) Retrieving records. The Department is required to furnish copies of records only when they are in our possession or we can retrieve them from storage. If we have stored the records you want in the National Archives or another storage center, we will retrieve and review them for possible disclosure. However, the Federal Government destroys many old records, so sometimes it is impossible to fill requests. Various laws, regulations, and manuals give the time periods for keeping records before they may be destroyed. For example, there is information about retention of records in the Records Disposal Act of 1944, 44 U.S.C. 3301 through 3314; the Federal Property Management Regulations, 41 CFR 101–11.4; the General Records Schedules of the National Archives and Records Administration; and in the HHS Handbook: Files Maintenance and Records Disposition. (b) Furnishing records. The requirement is that we furnish copies only of records that we have or can retrieve. We are not compelled to create new records. For example, we are not required to write a new program so that a computer will print information in the format you prefer. However, if the requested information is maintained in computerized form, but we can, with minimal computer instructions, produce the information on paper, we will do this if it is the only way to respond to a request. Nor are we required to perform research for you. On the other hand, we may decide to conserve government resources and at the same time supply the records you need by consolidating information from various records rather than copying them all. Moreover, we are required to furnish only one copy of a record and usually impose that limit. If information exists in different forms, we will provide the record in the form that best conserves government resources. For example, if it requires less time and expense to provide a computer record as a paper printout rather than in an electronic medium, we will provide the printout.
Title 45: Public Welfare
PART 5—FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REGULATIONS
Subpart B—Obtaining a Record
§ 5.21 How to request records.
§ 5.22 Requests not handled under the FOIA.
§ 5.23 Referral of requests outside the Department.
§ 5.24 Responding to your request.
