43 CFR § 2.51 - What if the bureau needs clarification about fee issues?

§ 2.51 What if the bureau needs clarification about fee issues?

(a) If your FOIA request does not contain sufficient information for the bureau to determine your proper fee category or leaves another fee issue unclear, the bureau may ask you to provide additional clarification. If it does so, the bureau will notify you that it will not be able to comply with your FOIA request unless you provide the clarification requested.

(b) If the bureau asks you to provide clarification, the 20-workday statutory time limit for the bureau to respond to the request is temporarily suspended.

(1) If the bureau receives a written response within 20 workdays after the bureau has requested the additional clarification, the 20-workday statutory time limit for processing the request will resume (see § 2.16 of this part).

(2) If you still have not provided sufficient information to resolve the fee issue, the bureau may ask you again to provide additional clarification and notify you that it will not be able to comply with your FOIA request unless you provide the additional information requested within 20 workdays after the bureau has requested the additional clarification.

(3) If the bureau asks you again for additional clarification, the statutory time limit for response will be temporarily suspended again and will resume again if the bureau receives a written response from you within 20 workdays after the bureau has requested the additional clarification.

(c) If the bureau asks for clarification about a fee issue and does not receive a written response from you within 20 workdays after the bureau has requested the additional clarification, it will presume that you are no longer interested and will close the file on the request.

[77 FR 76906, Dec. 31, 2012; 78 FR 6216, Jan. 30, 2013; 81 FR 11130, Mar. 3, 2016]