Office of Special Counsel 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Final rule. This final rule updates and clarifies the procedures for submitting Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and appeals to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC). The rule describes additional methods for submitting FOIA requests and appeals. It also promotes efficiency in FOIA administration by enhancing OSC's ability to respond to certain requests on an expedited basis. The final rule makes minor technical revisions to the name of an OSC unit and to OSC's Internet, fax, and physical address information. The rule also establishes procedures that requesters must follow when making demands on or requests to an OSC employee to produce official records or provide testimony relating to official information in connection with a legal proceeding in which the OSC is not a party.

This document corrects the Addresses section to a proposed rule published in the Federal Register as of September 2, 2016, regarding Filing of Complaints of Prohibited Personnel Practices or other Prohibited Activities and Filing Disclosures of Information. This correction addresses a typographical error in the email address used for submitting a comment pursuant to the notice.

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) seeks public comment on a proposed rule that would update and clarify the procedures for submitting Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and appeals, and would modify the manner in which FOIA requests qualify for expedited processing at OSC. The proposed rule would describe additional methods for submitting FOIA requests and appeals. It would also promote efficiency in FOIA administration by enhancing OSC's ability to respond to certain requests on an expedited basis. The proposed rule makes minor technical revisions to the name of an OSC unit and to OSC's Internet and physical address information. OSC also seeks public comment on a proposed rule that would establish procedures that requesters must follow when making demands on or requests to an OSC employee to produce official records or provide testimony relating to official information in connection with a legal proceeding in which the OSC is not a party. The proposed rule would also establish procedures to respond to such demands and requests in an orderly and consistent manner. The proposed rule will promote uniformity in decisions, protect confidential information, provide guidance to requesters, and reduce the potential for both inappropriate disclosures of official information and wasteful allocation of agency resources.