Title 15 - COMMERCE AND FOREIGN TRADE

PART 4--DISCLOSURE OF GOVERNMENT INFORMATION

Subpart A--Freedom of Information Act

Sec. 4.3 Records under the FOIA.

    (a) Records under the FOIA include all Government records, 
regardless of format, medium or physical characteristics, and include 
electronic records and information, audiotapes, videotapes, and 
photographs.
    (b) Under the FOIA, the Department has no obligation to create, 
compile, or obtain from outside the Department a record to satisfy a 
request. In complying with a request for electronic data, whether the 
Department creates or compiles records (as by undertaking significant 
programming work) or merely extracts them from an existing database may 
be unclear. The Department shall in any case undertake reasonable 
efforts to search for the information in electronic format.
    (c) Department officials may, upon request, create and provide new 
records pursuant to user fee statutes, such as the first paragraph of 
15 U.S.C. 1525, or in accordance with authority otherwise provided by 
law. Such creation and provision of records is outside the scope of the 
FOIA.
    (d) Components shall preserve all correspondence pertaining to the 
requests they receive under this subpart, as well as copies of all 
requested records, until disposition or destruction is authorized by 
Title 44 of the United States Code or the National Archives and Records 
Administration's General Records Schedule 14. Components shall not 
dispose of records while they are the subject of a pending request, 
appeal, or lawsuit under the FOIA.