5 CFR 2604.103 – Definitions
As used in this part:
Agency has the meaning given in 5 U.S.C. § 551(1) and 5 U.S.C. § 552(f).
Business information means trade secrets or other commercial or financial information, provided to OGE by a submitter, which arguably is protected from disclosure under Exemption 4 of the Freedom of Information Act.
Business submitter means any person who provides business information, directly or indirectly, to OGE and who has a proprietary interest in the information.
Chief FOIA Officer means the OGE official designated in 5 U.S.C. § 552(j)(1) to provide oversight of all of OGE’s FOIA program operations.
Commercial use means, when referring to a request, that the request is from, or on behalf of one who seeks information for a use or purpose that furthers the commercial, trade, or profit interests of the requester or of a person on whose behalf the request is made. Whether a request is for a commercial use depends on the purpose of the request and the use to which the records will be put. When a request is from a representative of the news media, a purpose or use supporting the requester’s news dissemination function is not a commercial use.
Direct costs means those expenditures actually incurred in searching for and duplicating (and, in the case of commercial use requesters, reviewing) records to respond to a FOIA request. Direct costs include the salary of the employee performing the work and the cost of operating duplicating machinery. Not included in direct costs are overhead expenses such as costs of space and heating or lighting of the facility in which the records are stored.
Duplication means the process of making a copy of a record. Such copies include photocopies, flash drives, and optical discs.
Educational institution means a preschool, elementary or secondary school, institution of undergraduate or graduate higher education, or institute of professional or vocational education, which operates a program of scholarly research.
Fee waiver means waiving or reducing processing fees if a requester can demonstrate that certain statutory standards are satisfied, including that the information is in the public interest and is not requested for a commercial interest.
FOIA Officer means the OGE employee designated to handle various initial FOIA matters, including requests and related matters such as fees.
FOIA Public Liaison means the OGE official designated in 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(B)(ii) and 552(l) to review upon request any concerns of FOIA requesters about the service received from OGE’s FOIA Requester Service Center and to address any other FOIA-related inquiries.
FOIA Requester Service Center means the OGE unit designated under E.O. 13392 and referenced in 5 U.S.C. § 552(l) to answer any questions requesters have about the status of OGE’s processing of their FOIA requests.
Freedom of Information Act or FOIA means 5 U.S.C. § 552.
Noncommercial scientific institution means an institution that is not operated solely for purposes of furthering its own or someone else’s business, trade, or profit interests, and that is operated for purposes of conducting scientific research the results of which are not intended to promote any particular product or industry.
Office or OGE means the United States Office of Government Ethics.
Person has the meaning given in 5 U.S.C. § 551(2), including “an individual, partnership, corporation, association, or public or private organization other than an agency.”
Records means any handwritten, typed, or printed documents (such as memoranda, books, brochures, studies, writings, drafts, letters, transcripts, and minutes) and documentary material in other forms (such as electronic documents, electronic mail, magnetic tapes, cards or discs, paper tapes, audio or video recordings, maps, photographs, slides, microfilm and motion pictures) that are either created or obtained by OGE and are under its control. It does not include objects or articles such as exhibits, models, equipment, and duplication machines or audiovisual processing materials.
Representative of the news media means a person or entity that gathers information of potential interest to a segment of the public, uses editorial skills to turn the raw materials into a distinct work, and distributes that work to an audience. In this clause, 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 if such entities qualify as disseminators of “news”) who distribute their products to the general public or who make their products available for purchase or subscription by the general public, and entities that may disseminate news through other media, such as electronic dissemination of text. Freelance journalists will be considered as representatives of a news media entity if they can show a solid basis for expecting publication through such an entity. A publication contract is such a basis, and the requester’s past publication record may show such a basis.
Request means any request for records made pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(3).
Requester means any person who makes a request for records to OGE.
Requester category means one of three classifications that OGE assigns to requesters to determine whether OGE will charge fees for search, review and duplication. These categories are: Commercial requesters; noncommercial scientific or educational institutions or representatives of the news media; and all other requesters.
Review means the process of initially, or upon appeal (see § 2604.501(b)(3)), examining documents located in a response to a request to determine whether any portion of any document is permitted to be withheld. It also includes processing documents for disclosure, such as redacting portions which may be withheld. Review does not include time spent resolving general legal and policy issues regarding the application of exemptions.
Search means the time spent looking for material manually or by automated means that is responsive to a request, including page-by-page or line-by-line identification of material within documents.
Working days means calendar days, excepting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal public holidays.