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You are here: Home / FOIA Civil Rights / Where and How to Submit a FOIA Appeal
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

graphic reading, Where and How to Submit a FOIA Appeal

Any appeal regarding the denial of records or the denial of a fee waiver must be made in writing. Your appeal must be received within 45 days from the date of the denial letter. The term "FOIA APPEAL" should be placed in capital letters on the front of the envelope and should be addressed as follows:

Ms. Margo M. McKay
Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Room 240-W, Whitten Building
Washington, DC 20250-0115

VIA FACSIMILE: (202) 690-1782

VIA E-MAIL: ASCR@usda.gov
(NOTE: While e-mail attachments are often an important and legitimate means of conducting business, they also have the potential to cause great harm to our e-mail infrastructure, as well as to individual workstations. Please place the text of your FOIA appeal into the 'body' of the email message.)

If you choose to mail or fax your appeal, providing these optional items will expedite the processing of your appeal:

  1. a copy of your original FOIA request, and
  2. copies of any correspondence you received from CR regarding your initial FOIA request and/or the FOIA control number assigned to your initial FOIA request.

If you choose to email your appeal, please include in the subject line the term "FOIA APPEAL." Please also include in the body of the email the FOIA control number assigned to the initial request that you are appealing.

According to 7 C.F.R. Subpart A, Section 1.14, all final appeal responses require review by the USDA Office of the General Counsel (OGC) for legal sufficiency. When OGC has completed its review, we will forward our final response to you.

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See Also
    Frequently Asked Questions
Related Topics
    Privacy Act
    E-FOIA Reading Room
 
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