45 CFR 612.1 – General provisions
(a) This part contains the rules that the National Science Foundation (NSF) follows in processing requests for records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552. Information routinely made available to the public as part of a regular Foundation activity (for example, program announcements and solicitations, summary of awarded proposals, statistical reports on U.S. science, press releases issued by the Office of Legislative and Public Affairs) may be provided to the public without reliance on this part. As a matter of policy, the Foundation also makes discretionary disclosures of records or information otherwise exempt under the FOIA whenever disclosure would not foreseeably harm an interest protected by a FOIA exemption. This policy, however, does not create any right enforceable in court. When individuals seek records about themselves under the Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. § 552a, NSF processes those requests under both NSF’s Privacy regulations at part 613 of this chapter, and this part.
Terms Used In 45 CFR 612.1
- Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. Source: OCC
(b) As used in this part, NSF includes one component, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the National Science Foundation.