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BIS FOIA Reading Room

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BIS does not maintain a Public Inspection facility (Reading Room). Instead, documents that are required to be made publicly available in the Reading Room are available on the Internet. These items are kept on the Web site for five years They are in a searchable PDF format and require an Adobe Acrobat 3.0 reader to view. This reader can be downloaded at no cost to the user.

FOIA Background

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was originally enacted in 1966 to allow any person the right to request access to federal agency records maintained by agencies within the executive branch of the Federal Government. Agencies are required to disclose records upon written request except for those records that are protected from disclosure by any of the nine FOIA exemptions or by one of the three special law enforcement record exclusions. This right of access is enforceable in U.S. courts. Since its enactment the FOIA statute has been amended several times.

The Electronic Freedom of Information Act (E-FOIA) Amendments of 1996 require agencies to provide the public with electronic access to any of their "Reading Room" records that have been created by them since November 1, 1996. Each agency shall make available for public inspection and copying final opinions, including concurring and dissenting opinions, as well as orders, made in the adjudication of cases and a general index of the records. In accordance with E-FOIA, please browse through our Index of Documents for information that is currently available in our E-FOIA Reading Room. Browsing through this site before submitting a FOIA request may be cost-effective.

Submitting a FOIA Request

If you should have questions concerning your request
call 202-482-8093.

Submitting a FOIA Appeal

FOIA requesters may appeal an agency's decision not to provide information within 30 days of the date of the written denial. Appeals must include the following information:

FOIA requesters shall include with the letter of appeal copies of their original requests and the responses to the request, clearly marking the letters and the outside envelopes, "FOIA Appeal." Appeals should be made to:

U.S. Department of Commerce
Office of General Counsel, Room 5875
14th Street and Constitution Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20230

Location of BIS's Electronic Reading Room

This component does not maintain a separate public inspection facility. Requesters should first view records located in BIS's Electronic FOIA Reading Room. If the records sought cannot be located at this site, please call (202) 482-8093. If records sought are older than 5 years, then a written FOIA request must be submitted.

Publicly Available Information

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Legal Authority

Title 15 Code of Federal Regulation--Commerce and Foreign Trade, Part 4--Public Information

For more detailed information, see the Department of Justice Text on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the Privacy Act (PA).

For additional general information on how to make a FOIA request see "A Citizen's Guide on Using the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act of 1974 to Request Government Records." This report is published by the Committee on Government Reform of the House of Representatives. It is available for sale for $5.00 from the U.S. Government Printing Office, stock number 052-071-01287-7. It also can be accessed on the World Wide Web on the Library of Congress Web site. This publication is also available at Federal Depository Libraries, the Government Printing Office, or you can access it through the GPO Access Web site.


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