(a) Requests for information or records not available through informal channels shall be directed to the Administrative Officer, Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, 1522 K Street NW., Washington, DC 20005. All such requests should be clearly marked “FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST” in order to ensure timely processing. Requests that are not so marked will be honored, but will be deemed not to have been received by the Council, for purposes of computing the response time, until the date on which they are identified by a member of the Council staff as being a request pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act.

Terms Used In 36 CFR 810.2

  • 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) Requests should describe the records sought in sufficient detail to allow Council staff to locate them with a reasonable amount of effort. Thus, where possible, specific information, including dates, geographic location of cases, and parties involved, should be supplied.

(c) A request for all records falling within a reasonably specific category shall be regarded as conforming to the statutory requirement that records be reasonably described if the records can be identified by any process that is not unreasonably burdensome or disruptive of Council operations.

(d) If a request is denied on the ground that it does not reasonably describe the records sought, the denial shall specify the reasons why the request was denied and shall extend to the requester an opportunity to confer with Council staff in order to reformulate the request in sufficient detail to allow the records to be produced.