Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act Regulations

COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY <CFR>40 CFR Parts 1515 and 1516</CFR> <DEPDOC>[CEQ-2024-001]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 0331-AA02</RIN> <SUBJECT>Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act Regulations</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Council on Environmental Quality. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Proposed rule. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) is proposing to amend its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regulations to incorporate amendments to the FOIA set forth in the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016; to conform to guidance for Federal agencies from the Department of Justice; to make them easier for the public to understand and use; and to better reflect CEQ's current policy and practice. These proposed regulations reaffirm CEQ's commitment to providing the fullest possible disclosure of records to the public. In addition, CEQ is proposing to amend its regulations implementing the Privacy Act of 1974 (the Privacy Act) to make them easier for the public to understand and use and to better reflect CEQ's current policy and practice. The proposed regulations would also make administrative changes, including reorganizing, renumbering, and renaming the sections of CEQ's current FOIA and Privacy Act regulations. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Send comments on or before January 10, 2025. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> You may submit comments, identified by docket number [CEQ-2024-0001], by any of the following methods: • <E T="03">Federal eRulemaking Portal:</E> Visit <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> and follow the instructions for submitting comments. • <E T="03">Fax:</E> 202-456-6546. • <E T="03">Mail:</E> Council on Environmental Quality, 730 Jackson Place NW, Washington, DC 20503. <E T="03">Instructions:</E> Your submission must include the agency name, “Council on Environmental Quality,” and the docket number for this rulemaking, [CEQ-2024-0001]. CEQ will post your comment without change, including any personal information you provide, to <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov.</E> Do not submit any information you consider to be private information, privileged or confidential commercial or financial information, or other information the disclosure of which is restricted by statute. <E T="03">Docket:</E> For access to the docket, visit <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> . <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Samuel Roth, Associate General Counsel, 202-395-5750, <E T="03">Samuel.E.Roth@ceq.eop.gov</E> . </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Background</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. The FOIA</HD> The FOIA, 5 U.S.C. 552, provides a right of access to certain records that Federal agencies maintain and control. The FOIA directs each Federal agency to publish regulations that describe how the agency will process FOIA requests it receives from members of the public. CEQ first adopted its FOIA regulations in 1977. <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> In 2010, CEQ amended its regulation to reflect legislative amendments to the FOIA, a 2009 Presidential Memorandum regarding FOIA policy, and additional guidance from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> CEQ's current FOIA regulation is codified at 40 CFR part 1515. <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>  CEQ, Freedom of Information Act Procedures; Final Rule, 42 FR 65158 (Dec. 30, 1977). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>  CEQ, Revision of Freedom of Information Act Regulations, 75 FR 48585 (Sept. 10, 2010). </FTNT> CEQ is proposing to revise and republish its FOIA regulation in its entirety in order to make several improvements to the current rule. First, CEQ is proposing updates to reflect a number of important changes to the FOIA made by the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 (Pub. L. 114-185). Section 3(a) of the Act directs each agency to review its FOIA regulations and update them to implement the changes set forth in the Act. Second, CEQ is proposing to include a number of provisions to improve the usefulness and readability of its FOIA regulations consistent with DOJ's 2017 revised Template for Agency Regulations (the Template). <SU>3</SU> <FTREF/> CEQ modeled this proposed rule on the Template, which also incorporates the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016's amendments to the FOIA. <FTNT> <SU>3</SU>  Template for Agency FOIA Regulations (February 22, 2017), <E T="03">https://www.justice.gov/oip/template-agency-foia-regulations</E> . </FTNT> Third, CEQ is proposing updates to better convey the FOIA's and CEQ's requirements to members of the public who are interested in CEQ's operations and activities, so they can easily understand and use CEQ's FOIA process. <SU>4</SU> <FTREF/> Specifically, CEQ referred to the Plain Writing Act of 2010 and the Federal Plain Language Guidelines  <SU>5</SU> <FTREF/> in preparing the proposed rule. <FTNT> <SU>4</SU>   <E T="03">See, e.g.,</E> E.O. 13563, <E T="03">Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review,</E> (Jan. 18, 2011) (“regulations [must be] accessible, consistent, written in plain language, and easy to understand”), 76 FR 3821 (Jan. 21, 2011). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>5</SU>  Federal Plain Language Guidelines (1st rev. May 2011), <E T="03">https://www.plainlanguage.gov/media/FederalPLGuidelines.pdf</E> . </FTNT> Finally, the proposed rule reflects updates to CEQ's FOIA policies and procedures, as well as the practical experience of CEQ's FOIA staff. As it does under its current regulations, CEQ would administer the FOIA under the proposed regulations with a presumption of openness, consistent with the Memorandum of the Attorney General dated March 15, 2022. <SU>6</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>6</SU>  Department of Justice, <E T="03">Freedom of Information Act Guidelines</E> (March 15, 2022), <E T="03">https://www.justice.gov/media/1212566/dl</E> . </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD2">B. The Privacy Act</HD> The Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. 552a, governs each Federal agency's collection, maintenance, use, and dissemination of any information about individuals that it maintains in a system of records. The Privacy Act directs each Federal agency to publish regulations that describe the agency's procedures for carrying out the provisions of the Privacy Act. CEQ first adopted a Privacy Act regulation in 1977, <SU>7</SU> <FTREF/> codified at 40 CFR part 1516. <FTNT> <SU>7</SU>  CEQ, Procedures for Gaining Access to Information Under the Privacy Act of 1974; Final Regulations, 42 FR 32537 (June 27, 1977); <E T="03">see also</E> Procedures for Gaining Access to Information Under the Privacy Act of 1974, Correction to Final Regulations, 42 FR 35960 (July 13, 1977) (technical amendment). </FTNT> CEQ is proposing to revise and republish its Privacy Act regulation in its entirety to make it easier for the public to understand and use and to reflect updates to CEQ's Privacy Act procedures over the past five decades. <HD SOURCE="HD1">II. Summary of the Proposed Rules</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. Part 1515—Freedom of Information Act Procedures</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD3">1. Subpart A—The Council on Environmental Quality's FOIA Program</HD> <E T="03">Section 1515.1</E> — <E T="03">What is the purpose of the rules in this part?</E> This section describes the purpose of part 1515, which is to set forth CEQ's FOIA procedures, and explains the limitations of the regulations. <E T="03">Section 1515.2—What kind of records does CEQ maintain?</E> This section explains CEQ's activities and legal authorities. <E T="03">Section 1515.3—Are there any CEQ records for which I do not have to make a request?</E> This section describes CEQ information the public can access without filing a FOIA request. <E T="03">Section 1515.4—Who is responsible for processing FOIA requests and appeals to CEQ?</E> This section explains the roles of Chief FOIA Officer and FOIA Appeals Officer at CEQ. <E T="03">Section 1515.5—Who can help me with my FOIA request to CEQ?</E> This section explains that FOIA requesters can obtain assistance from CEQ's FOIA Public Liaison and dispute resolution services from the National Archives and Records Administration's Office of Government Information Services. <E T="03">Section 1515.6—What are CEQ's procedures for preserving records?</E> This section explains CEQ's procedures for preserving records in connection with its administration of the FOIA. <HD SOURCE="HD3">2. Subpart B—Making a FOIA Request and Receiving a Response</HD> <E T="03">Section 1515.11—How do I make a FOIA request to CEQ?</E> This section explains how members of the public may request CEQ records under the FOIA. It also describes CEQ's procedures for clarifying requests that do not reasonably describe the records that the requester is seeking. <E T="03">Section 1515.12—Will CEQ keep my request confidential?</E> This section notes that FOIA requests and the identities of FOIA requesters are generally matters of public record. <E T="03">Section 1515.13—When will CEQ respond to my request?</E> This section describes CEQ's timeline for responding to FOIA requests, including circumstances in which CEQ will extend or pause the ordinary time period for processing FOIA requests. <E T="03">Section 1515.14—What if my request is urgent?</E> This section explains how to ask CEQ to expedite its processing of a FOIA request or appeal. <E T="03">Section 1515.15—How will CEQ process my request?</E> This section describes CEQ's procedures for processing requests and circumstances in which CEQ will deny requests. <E T="03">Section 1515.16—How does CEQ determine when to withhold records or portions of a record?</E> This section describes CEQ's procedures for applying the sta ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 79k characters. 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