1250.2—Definitions.
The following definitions apply to this part:
(a)
Archival records means permanently valuable records of the United States Government that have been transferred to the legal custody of the Archivist of the United States.
(b)
Commercial use requester means a requester seeking information for a use or purpose that furthers the commercial, trade, or profit interests of the requester or the person on whose behalf the request is made.
(c)
Confidential commercial information means records provided by a submitter that may contain material exempt from release under the FOIA because disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause the submitter substantial competitive harm.
(d)
Educational institution request means a preschool, a public or private elementary or secondary school, an institution of undergraduate higher education, an institution of graduate higher education, an institution of professional education, or an institution of vocational education, that operates a program of scholarly research. To be in this category, a requester must show that the request is authorized by and is made under the auspices of a qualifying institution and that the records are not sought for a commercial use but are sought to further scholarly research.
(e)
FOIA request means a written request for access to records of the executive branch of the Federal Government held by NARA, including NARA operational records, or to Presidential records in the custody of NARA that were created after January 19, 1981, that cites the Freedom of Information Act.
(f)
Freelance journalist means an individual who qualifies as a representative of the news media because the individual can demonstrate a solid basis for expecting publication through a news organization, even though not actually in its employ. A publication contract would be the clearest proof of a solid basis, but the individual's publication history may also be considered in demonstrating this solid basis.
(g)
News media representative means a person actively gathering news for an entity that is organized and operated to publish or broadcast news to the public. The term “news” means information that is about current events or that would be of current interest to the public. Examples of news media entities include television or radio stations broadcasting to the public at large, and publishers of periodicals (but only in those instances when they can qualify as disseminators of news) who make their products available for purchase or subscription to the general public.
(h)
Non-commercial scientific institution means an institution that is not operated on a basis that furthers the commercial, trade, or profit interests of any person or organization, and which is operated solely for the purpose of conducting scientific research which produces results that are not intended to promote any particular product or industry.
(i)
Operational records means those records that NARA creates or receives in carrying out its mission and responsibilities as an executive branch agency. This does not include archival records as defined in paragraph (a) of this section.
(j)
Other requesters means any individual who is not a commercial-use requester, not a representative of the news media, not a freelance journalist, nor one associated with an educational or non-commercial scientific institution whose research activities conform to the definition in paragraph (h) of this section.
(k)
Submitter means any person or entity providing potentially confidential commercial information to an agency. The term submitter includes, but is not limited to, corporations, state governments, and foreign governments.