Freedom of Information Act

POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION <CFR>39 CFR Part 3006</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. RM2024-5; Order No. 7052]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 3211-AA38</RIN> <SUBJECT>Freedom of Information Act</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Postal Regulatory Commission. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Notice of proposed rulemaking. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeks comment on a proposal to amend the Commission's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regulations. The proposal is designed to improve readability by reorganizing and rephrasing existing content in a more accessible manner. Additionally, the proposal would better align the Commission's existing FOIA regulations with the practices of other agencies subject to the FOIA, as necessarily adapted to the Commission's size and area of regulatory oversight. Finally, the proposal includes amendments to clarify and amplify the information given to the public and improve the efficiency of the Commission's FOIA administration. This document informs the public of the filing, invites public comment, and takes other administrative steps. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> <E T="03">Comments are due:</E> May 23, 2024. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> Submit comments electronically via the Commission's Filing Online system at <E T="03">https://www.prc.gov.</E> Those who cannot submit comments electronically should contact the person identified in the <E T="02">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT</E> section by telephone for advice on filing alternatives. The Rule Summary can be found on the Commission's Rule Summary Page at <E T="03">https://www.prc.gov/rule-summary-page.</E> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> David A. Trissell, General Counsel, at 202-789-6820. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">I. Background</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. Basis of Proposed Rules</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. Proposed Rules</FP> </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Background</HD> The Commission is an independent Federal agency that regulates the United States Postal Service (“Postal Service”). The Commission's mission is to ensure transparency and accountability of the Postal Service and to foster a vital and efficient universal mail system. The Commission is subject to the FOIA. The Commission is also a micro agency with fewer than 100 employees. Year to year, the bulk of the FOIA requests received by the Commission are intended for the Postal Service and the requester is therefore directed to the Postal Service, as a best practice. The Commission's existing FOIA regulations appear in existing 39 CFR part 3006. <HD SOURCE="HD1">II. Basis of the Proposed Rules</HD> Based on experience with the existing FOIA regulations, the Commission proposes amendments that would improve readability, align the Commission's existing FOIA regulations with the practices of other agencies subject to the FOIA (with appropriate adaptions for the Commission's size and area of regulatory oversight), improve the efficiency of the Commission's FOIA administration, and clarify and amplify the information provided to the public. To improve readability, the Commission proposes to organize the material currently appearing in existing 39 CFR part 3006, by grouping related material (individual sections of the existing regulations) under three new subparts. The proposed order of the subparts seeks to provide the public with information in a more easily accessible manner. Sections and subparts are organized to provide the most general material first, which likely will be of interest to the widest audience. The Commission also proposes amendments that would better align content with the practices of other agencies subject to the FOIA (as necessarily adapted to the Commission's size and area of regulatory oversight), improve the efficiency of the Commission's FOIA administration, and amplify the usefulness of the information provided to the public. Accordingly, much of the proposed content is modeled upon the sample language appearing in the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Information Policy's Template for Agency FOIA Regulations. <HD SOURCE="HD1">III. Proposed Rules</HD> <LSTSUB> <HD SOURCE="HED">List of Subjects in 39 CFR Part 3006</HD> Administrative practice and procedure, Freedom of information, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Sunshine Act. </LSTSUB> For the reasons stated in the preamble, the Commission proposes to amend 39 CFR part 3006 as follows: <HD SOURCE="HED">PART 3006—PUBLIC RECORDS AND FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT</HD> 1. The authority citation for part 3006 continues to read as follows: <HD SOURCE="HED">Authority: </HD> 5 U.S.C. 552; 39 U.S.C. 407, 503, 504. 2. Revise part 3006 to read as follows: <HD SOURCE="HED">PART 3006—PUBLIC RECORDS AND FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT</HD> <CONTENTS> <SUBPART> <HD SOURCE="HED">Subpart A—General Provisions</HD> <SECHD>Sec.</SECHD> <SECTNO>3006.100 </SECTNO> <SUBJECT>Applicability and scope.</SUBJECT> <SECTNO>3006.101 </SECTNO> <SUBJECT>Commission policy.</SUBJECT> <SECTNO>3006.102 </SECTNO> <SUBJECT>Proactive disclosures.</SUBJECT> <SECTNO>3006.103 </SECTNO> <SUBJECT>Reading room.</SUBJECT> <SECTNO>3006.104 </SECTNO> <SUBJECT>Chief Freedom of Information Act Officer.</SUBJECT> <SECTNO>3006.105 </SECTNO> <SUBJECT>Freedom of Information Act Public Liaison.</SUBJECT> <SECTNO>3006.106 </SECTNO> <SUBJECT>Commission procedure when served a subpoena.</SUBJECT> </SUBPART> <SUBPART> <HD SOURCE="HED">Subpart B—Procedures for Freedom of Information Act Requests</HD> <SECHD>Sec.</SECHD> <SECTNO>3006.200 </SECTNO> <SUBJECT>Procedures for submitting requests.</SUBJECT> <SECTNO>3006.201 </SECTNO> <SUBJECT>Timing of responses to requests.</SUBJECT> <SECTNO>3006.202 </SECTNO> <SUBJECT>Responses to requests.</SUBJECT> <SECTNO>3006.203 </SECTNO> <SUBJECT>Appeals.</SUBJECT> <SECTNO>3006.204 </SECTNO> <SUBJECT>Relationship among the Freedom of Information Act, the Privacy Act, and the Commission's procedures for according appropriate confidentiality.</SUBJECT> <SECTNO>3006.205 </SECTNO> <SUBJECT>Consultations, referrals, and coordinations.</SUBJECT> <SECTNO>3006.206 </SECTNO> <SUBJECT>Submission of non-public materials by a person other than the Postal Service.</SUBJECT> </SUBPART> <SUBPART> <HD SOURCE="HED">Subpart C—Fees for Freedom of Information Act Requests</HD> <SECHD>Sec.</SECHD> <SECTNO>3006.300 </SECTNO> <SUBJECT>Definitions applicable to this subpart.</SUBJECT> <SECTNO>3006.301 </SECTNO> <SUBJECT>Request category.</SUBJECT> <SECTNO>3006.302 </SECTNO> <SUBJECT>General provisions.</SUBJECT> <SECTNO>3006.303 </SECTNO> <SUBJECT>Fee schedule.</SUBJECT> <SECTNO>3006.304 </SECTNO> <SUBJECT>Procedure for assessing and collecting fees.</SUBJECT> </SUBPART> </CONTENTS> <SUBPART> <HD SOURCE="HED">Subpart A—General Provisions</HD> <SECTION> <SECTNO>§ 3006.100 </SECTNO> <SUBJECT> Applicability and scope.</SUBJECT> (a) The rules in this part apply to requests for records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552. These rules should be read in conjunction with the text of the FOIA and the Uniform Freedom of Information Act Fee Schedule and Guidelines published by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB Guidelines). (b) Requests made by individuals for records about themselves under the Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. 552a, are processed in accordance with the Commission's Privacy Act regulations appearing in part 3005 of this chapter and § 3006.204. </SECTION> <SECTION> <SECTNO>§ 3006.101 </SECTNO> <SUBJECT> Commission policy.</SUBJECT> (a) The Commission shall be proactive and timely in identifying and posting public records and other frequently requested records to its website. (b) It is the stated policy of the Commission that FOIA requests shall be administered with a clear presumption of openness. The Commission will only withhold information if it reasonably foresees that disclosure would harm an interest protected by a FOIA exemption, such as information specifically exempted from disclosure by statute (for example 39 U.S.C. 410(c)), or disclosure is otherwise prohibited by law. (c) This Commission policy does not create any right enforceable in court. </SECTION> <SECTION> <SECTNO>§ 3006.102 </SECTNO> <SUBJECT> Proactive disclosures.</SUBJECT> (a) Except as provided in § 3006.101(b) and in part 3011 of this chapter, Commission records, required by the FOIA to be made available, will be made available on the Commission's website, <E T="03">http://www.prc.gov.</E> (b) Descriptions of the Commission's organization, its methods of operation, statements of policy and interpretations, and procedural and substantive rules, are published in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> publication system, and are available on the Commission's website, <E T="03">http://www.prc.gov.</E> </SECTION> <SECTION> <SECTNO>§ 3006.103 </SECTNO> <SUBJECT>Reading room.</SUBJECT> (a) The Commission maintains an electronic reading room at <E T="03">http://www.prc.gov.</E> (b) The records available for public inspection include, for example, decisions; reports; opinions; orders; notices; findings; determinations; statements of policy; copies of selected records released under FOIA; indexes required to be maintained under FOIA; and records relating to any matter or proceeding before the Commission. (c) The Commission shall make available, in an electronic form, records previously released under FOIA and which the Commission determines are or are likely to become of significant public interest. (d) Commission records that have been requested three or more times will be made available on the Commission's website, <E T="03">http://www.prc.gov.</E> </SECTION> <SECTION> ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 51k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━