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Freedom of Information Act
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Email: | foiapa@sec.gov |
Fax: | 202-772-9336 ; or |
Mail: | SEC FOIA/PA Office 100 F Street, NE Room 5100 Washington, DC 20549 |
Response times range from 1 to 1033 with an average response time of 171 days.
Many requests received by the SEC are for investigatory records, consumer complaints, and nonpublic correspondence. Some of these requests are denied because the records relate to on-going investigations (Exemption 7(A)), personal privacy (Exemptions 6 and 7(C)), and intra and inter-agency records (Exemption 5).
Securities and Exchange Commission SEC
Statute Code | Court upheld | Concise Description of material withheld |
---|---|---|
15 U.S.C. § 80a-30(c) | N/A | Investment Company Examination Records. |
15 U.S.C. § 80b-10(b) | N/A | Investment Advisors examination Records. |
A. Number of Initial Requests | ||
1. | Requests pending as of end of preceding year | 9710 |
2. | Requests received during current FY | 8961 |
3. | Requests processed during current FY | 8268 |
4. | Requests pending as of end of current FY | 10,403 |
B. Disposition of Initial Requests | ||
1. | Number of total grants | 2065 |
2. | Number of partial grants | 181 |
3. | Number of denials | 404 |
Number of times each FOIA exemption used | ||
(b)(1) national security | 0 | |
(b)(2) records related solely to internal rules and practices | 31 | |
(b)(3) law specifically exempts the material from disclosure | 2 | |
(b)(4) trade secrets and other confidential business information | 71 | |
(b)(5) deliberative process privilege, pre-decisional | 49 | |
(b)(6) information about individuals | 73 | |
(b)(7)(A) interference with law enforcement proceedings | 564 | |
(b)(7)(B) a person would be deprived of a fair trial | 0 | |
(b)(7)(C) unwarranted invasion of personal privacy | 25 | |
(b)(7)(D) confidential source | 0 | |
(b)(7)(E) techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations | 5 | |
(b)(7)(F) endangering the safety or life of any individual | 0 | |
(b)(8) examination of banks and other financial institutions | 33 | |
(b)(9) geological and geophysical information | 0 | |
4. | Other reasons for non-disclosure (total) | 5618 |
a. No records found (appeal rights) | 4593 | |
b. Referrals | 472 | |
c. Requests Withdrawn | 269 | |
d. Fee-related issues | 141 | |
e. Records not reasonably described | 10 | |
f. Not a proper FOIA request for some other reason | 11 | |
g. Not an agency record | 17 | |
h. Duplicate request | 83 | |
i. Other: Records Lost or Destroyed | 22 |
A. Number of Appeals | ||
1. | Number of appeals received during FY | 420 |
2. | Number of appeals processed during FY | 344 |
B. Disposition of Appeals | ||
1. | Number completely upheld | 179 |
2. | Number partially reversed | 25 |
3. | Number completely reversed | 25 |
Number of times each FOIA exemption used | ||
(b)(1) | 0 | |
(b)(2) | 17 | |
(b)(3) | 0 | |
(b)(4) | 5 | |
(b)(5) | 25 | |
(b)(6) | 0 | |
(b)(7)(A) | 165 | |
(b)(7)(B) | 0 | |
(b)(7)(C) | 27 | |
(b)(7)(D) | 0 | |
(b)(7)(E) | 0 | |
(b)(7)(F) | 0 | |
(b)(8) | 7 | |
(b)(9) | 0 | |
4. | Other reasons for nondisclosure: No information found | 115 |
A. Median Processing Time for Requests Processed during the current Year | ||
1. | Simple Requests | |
a. Number of requests processed | 6809 | |
b. Median number of days to process | 15 | |
2. | Complex Requests | |
a. Number of requests processed | 1459 | |
b. Median number of days to process | 706 | |
3. | Requests accorded expedited processing | |
a. Number of requests processed | 0 | |
b. Median number of days to process | 0 | |
B. Status of Pending Requests | ||
1. | Number of requests pending as of the end of FY | 10,403 |
a. Simple requests | 7,433 | |
b. Complex requests | 2,970 | |
2. | Median number of days simple (fast-track) requests were pending | 243 |
3. | Median number of days complex requests were pending | 601 |
D. Other statistics significant to components: | ||
Number of requests for expedited treatment received and granted: | 0 |
A. Staffing levels | ||
1. | Number of full-time FOIA personnel | 26.8 |
2. | Number of personnel with part-time or occasional FOIA duties (in total work-years or FTEE) | 13.1 |
3. | Total number of personnel (in total work-years or FTEE) | 39.9 |
B. Total costs (including staff and all resources) | ||
1. | FOIA processing (including appeals) | $4,283,262 |
2. | Litigation-related activities | $195,671 |
3. | Total costs | $4,478,933 |
A. Total amount of fees collected by agency for processing requests | $72,515 | ||
B. Percentage of total costs | 1.6% |
The SEC FOIA regulations, 17 CFR § 200.80, are posted to the Commission website: http://www.sec.gov/foia.shtml.
Not applicable.
The Commission met or exceeded all goals and milestones established in the report it submitted on June 14, 2006, and revised on October 13, 2006, in response to Executive Order 13392, that were to be completed for this reporting period.
In all improvement areas cited in the Program Action Plan, the accomplishments have exceeded the projected completion dates as well as the measured goals. Specifically, the backlog of FY 03 requests has been reduced by an additional 50% since October 2006; and the backlog of FY 04 requests has been reduced by 29% overall, exceeding the 15% quarterly reduction goal by February 1, 2007, as stated in Improvement Area No. 1 of the Action Plan.
The Commissions program of electronic dissemination of filing related correspondence has increased the volume of information publicly available. The effect of this proactive disclosure of information is measured in the increased number of FOIA requests citing a disposition that indicates the requestor was referred to the SEC Public EDGAR website to obtain the requested records. (See item V.B.4. of this report). Referrals to the public website reported for FY 05 were 225, and for FY 06 were 472. Additionally, requests for this type of record in FY 2007, have decreased by approximately 15%.
The Commission has improved the use of available FOIA resources. FOIA training needs have been prioritized and materials updated. In October and December 2006, training was provided to those program areas where updated knowledge would provide the greatest results to FOIA processing via improved responses; response time; and reduced appeals. FOIA regulations are also under review with an emphasis on revising the fee schedule and providing updated instructions to those persons submitting Requests for Confidential Treatment under SEC Rule 83 (17 CFR 200.83) as well as submitting FOIA and Privacy Act requests.
Not applicable.
The nine exemptions to the FOIA authorize federal agencies to withhold information covering: (1) classified national defense and foreign relations information; (2) internal agency rules and practices; (3) information that is prohibited from disclosure by another federal law; (4) trade secrets and other confidential business information; (5) inter-agency or intra-agency communications that are protected by legal privileges; (6) information involving matters of personal privacy; (7) records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes, to the extent that the production of those records (A) could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings, (B) would deprive a person of a right to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication, (C) could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, (D) could reasonably be expected to disclose the identity of a confidential source, (E) would disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions, or would disclose guidelines for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions, or (F) could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual; (8) information relating to the supervision of financial institutions; and (9) geological information on wells.
http://www.sec.gov/foia/foiaactionplan.pdf
http://www.sec.gov/foia/arfoia06.htm
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