As used in this part,
Business information means trade secrets or other commercial or financial information, provided to the Office by a submitter, which arguably is protected from disclosure under Exemption 4 of the Freedom of Information Act.
Business submitter means any person who provides business information, directly or indirectly, to the Office and who has a proprietary interest in the information.
Chief FOIA Officer means the OGE official, the OGE Deputy General Counsel, designated under E.O. 13392 to provide oversight of all of OGE's FOIA program operations.
Commercial use means, when referring to a request, that the request is from, or on behalf of one who seeks information for a use or purpose that furthers the commercial, trade, or profit interests of the requester or of a person on whose behalf the request is made. Whether a request is for a commercial use depends on the purpose of the request and the use to which the records will be put. When a request is from a representative of the news media, a purpose or use supporting the requester's news dissemination function is not a commercial use.
Direct costs means those expenditures actually incurred in searching for and duplicating (and, in the case of commercial use requesters, reviewing) records to respond to a FOIA request. Direct costs include the salary of the employee performing the work and the cost of operating duplicating machinery. Not included in direct costs are overhead expenses such as costs of space and heating or lighting of the facility in which the records are stored.
Duplication means the process of making a copy of a record. Such copies include paper copy, microform, audio-visual materials, and magnetic tapes, cards, and discs.
Educational institution means a preschool, elementary or secondary school, institution of undergraduate or graduate higher education, or institute of professional or vocational education, which operates a program of scholarly research.
FOIA Officer means the OGE employee designated to handle various initial FOIA matters, including requests and related matters such as fees.
FOIA Public Liaison means the OGE official, the OGE FOIA Officer, designated under E.O. 13392 to review upon request any concerns of FOIA requesters about the service received from OGE's FOIA Requester Service Center and to address any other FOIA-related inquiries.
FOIA Requester Service Center means the OGE unit designated under E.O. 13392 to answer any questions requesters have about the status of OGE's processing of their FOIA requests. The Center may be contacted at telephone number: 202-482-9210 (TDD: 202-482-9293).
He, his and him include she, hers and her.
Noncommercial scientific institution means an institution that is not operated solely for purposes of furthering its own or someone else's business, trade, or profit interests, and that is operated for purposes of conducting scientific research the results of which are not intended to promote any particular product or industry.
Office or OGE means the United States Office of Government Ethics.
Records means any handwritten, typed, or printed documents (such as memoranda, books, brochures, studies, writings, drafts, letters, transcripts, and minutes) and documentary material in other forms (such as electronic documents, electronic mail, punchcards, magnetic tapes, cards or discs, paper tapes, audio or video recordings, maps, photographs, slides, microfilm and motion pictures) that are either created or obtained by the Office and are under Office control. It does not include objects or articles such as exhibits, models, equipment, and duplication machines or audiovisual processing materials.
Representative of the news media means a person actively gathering information for an entity organized and operated to publish or broadcast news to the public. News media entities include television and radio broadcasters, publishers of periodicals who distribute their products to the general public or who make their products available for purchase or subscription by the general public, and entities that may disseminate news through other media, such as electronic dissemination of text. Freelance journalists will be considered as representatives of a news media entity if they can show a solid basis for expecting publication through such an entity. A publication contract is such a basis, and the requester's past publication record may show such a basis.
Requester means any person who makes a request for records to OGE.
Review means the process of initially, or upon appeal (see § 2604.501(b)(3) ), examining documents located in a response to a request to determine whether any portion of any document is permitted to be withheld. It also includes processing documents for disclosure, such as redacting portions which may be withheld. Review does not include time spent resolving general legal and policy issues regarding the application of exemptions.
Search means the time spent looking for material manually or by automated means that is responsive to a request, including page-by-page or line-by-line identification of material within documents.
Working days means calendar days, excepting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal public holidays.
Code of Federal Regulations
[60 FR 10007, Feb. 23, 1995, as amended at 64 FR 28090, May 25, 1999; 66 FR 3439, Jan. 16, 2001; 72 FR 49127, Aug. 28, 2007]