CFR > Title 15 - Commerce and Foreign Trade > SUBTITLE A—Office of the Secretary of Commerce > PART 4—DISCLOSURE OF GOVERNMENT INFORMATION > SUBPART A—Freedom of Information Act (§4.1 to §4.11) > 4.7—Responses to requests.

4.7—Responses to requests.

(a) Grants of requests. If a component makes a determination to grant a request in whole or in part, it shall notify the requester in writing. The component shall inform the requester in the notice of any fee to be charged under § 4.11 and disclose records to the requester promptly upon payment of any applicable fee. Records disclosed in part shall be marked or annotated to show the applicable FOIA exemption(s) and the amount of information deleted, unless doing so would harm an interest protected by an applicable exemption. The location of the information deleted shall also be indicated on the record, if feasible.
(b) Adverse determinations of requests. If a component makes an adverse determination regarding a request, it shall notify the requester of that determination in writing. An adverse determination is a denial of a request in any respect, namely: a determination to withhold any requested record in whole or in part; a determination that a requested record does not exist or cannot be located; a determination that a record is not readily reproducible in the form or format sought by the requester; a determination that what has been requested is not a record subject to the FOIA (except that a determination under § 4.11(j) that records are to be made available under a fee statute other than the FOIA is not an adverse determination); a determination against the requester on any disputed fee matter, including a denial of a request for a reduction or waiver of fees; or a denial of a request for expedited processing. Each denial letter shall be signed by an official listed in Appendix B to this part, and shall include:
(1) The name and title or position of the denying official;
(2) A brief statement of the reason(s) for the denial, including applicable FOIA exemption(s);
(3) An estimate of the volume of records or information withheld, in number of pages or some other reasonable form of estimation. This estimate need not be provided if the volume is otherwise indicated through deletions on records disclosed in part, or if providing an estimate would harm an interest protected by an applicable FOIA exemption; and
(4) A statement that the denial may be appealed, and a list of the requirements for filing an appeal under § 4.10(b).