The History of the Freedom of Information Act and the TTB

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. Sec. 552, enacted in 1966, requires federal agencies to provide documents after receiving a written request for them.  Not supported as legislation or enthusiastically received as law by the executive branch, the FOIA was subsequently refined with direct amendments in 1974, 1976, 1986 and 1996. The Electronic FOIA Amendment of 1996 (EFOIA), brought the FOIA into the electronic information age by treating information maintained by agencies in electronic form in generally the same way as paper records.  EFOIA promotes the use of advanced information technologies in order to achieve efficient disclosure of information to the public by electronic means.  This brought about the electronic reading room.  The electronic reading room gives you quick access to records discussed in response to FOIA that TTB determines have become or likely to become the subject to subsequent requests for substantially the same records.  These records may include agency policy statements, final opinions, and certain administrative staff manuals.

 President Bush signed the “OPEN Government Act of 2007”, establishing a definition of “a representation of the news media”; directing that required attorney fees be paid from an agency’s own appropriation rather than from the Judgment Fund; prohibiting an agency from accessing certain fees if it fails to comply with FOIA deadlines; and establishing an Office of Government Information Services in the National Archives and Records Administration to review agency compliance with FOIA.