Federal Manager's Daily Report

The Justice Department has issued guidance to agencies on complying with recently enacted revisions to the Freedom of Information Act, adding that more will be forthcoming.

Among the changes to the law are several new requirements for agency response letters and for notices to requesters extending the FOIA’s time limits due to unusual circumstances. “For response letters agencies must notify requesters of their right to seek assistance from the FOIA Public Liaison and, if the response is adverse, they must also notify the requester of their right to seek dispute resolution services from the Office of Government Information Services within the National Archives and Records Administration,” it said.

Additionally, agencies must now afford requesters a minimum of 90 days to file an administrative appeal. “When invoking unusual circumstances to extend the FOIA’s time limits, agencies already were required to make their FOIA Public Liaison available, but now they must also notify the requester of the availability of dispute resolution services offered by OGIS,” it said.

Also, agencies may include their FOIA Requester Service Center contacts in their response letters, in addition to their FOIA Public Liaison contacts, to requesters with questions about the handling of their request. “While that additional resource is not required to be offered, agencies might find that providing a range of contacts will be more efficient, particularly since FOIA Public Liaisons supervise FOIA Requester Service Centers, which serve as the initial source of information about the handling of requests,” it said.

The guidance from the Office of Information Policy also includes an implementation checklist, with sample language, to assist agencies in complying with the new provisions.