qualified to represent the particular party

in the matter;

(b) That, if he is the partner of a present or former officer or employee, including a special Government employee, the matter in respect of which he intends to practice is not a matter in which such officer or employee of the Government or special Government employee participates or has participated personally and substantially as a Government employee through decision, approval, disapproval, recommendation, the rendering of advice, investigation or otherwise and that the matter is not the subject of such partner's official Government responsibility;

(c) That, if he is a former officer or employee, including a special Government employee, the matter in respect of which he intends to practice is not a matter in which he participated personally and substantially as a Government employee through decision, approval, disapproval, recommendation, the rendering of advice, investigation, or otherwise, while so employed and, if a period of one year has not passed since the termination of his employment with the Government, that the matter was not under his official responsibility as an officer or employee of the Government; and

(d) That he has read the paper; that to the best of his knowledge, information, and belief there is good ground to support its contents; that it contains no scandalous or indecent matter; and that it is not interposed for delay. § 1.6 Disciplinary proceedings.

(a) Disciplinary proceedings may be instituted against anyone who is practicing or has practiced before the Department on grounds that he is incompetent, unethical, or unprofessional, or that he is practicing without authority under the provisions of this part, or that he has violated any provisions of the laws and regulations governing practice before the Department, or that he has been disbarred or suspended by any court or administrative agency. Individuals practicing before the Department should observe the Canons of Professional Ethics of the American Bar Association and those of the Federal Bar Association, by which the Department will be guided in disciplinary matters.

ciplinary action should be taken against an individual who is practicing or has practiced before the Department, the Solicitor shall appoint a hearing officer to consider and dispose of the case. The hearing officer shall give the individual adequate notice of, and an opportunity for a hearing on, the specific charges against him. The hearing shall afford the individual an opportunity to present evidence and cross-examine witnesses. The hearing officer shall render a decision either (1) dismissing the charges, or (2) reprimanding the individual or suspending or excluding him from practice before the Department.

(c) Within 30 days after receipt of the decision of the hearing officer reprimanding, suspending, or excluding an individual from practice before the Department, an appeal may be filled with the Solicitor, whose decision shall be final.

(b) Whenever in the discretion of the Solicitor the circumstances warrant consideration of the question whether dis

APPENDIX B-HEADS OF BUREAUS AND OFFICES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR AUTHORITY: 5 U.S.C. 301, 552 and 552a; 31 US.C. 483a; and 43 U.S.C. 1460, unless otherwise noted.

SOURCE: 40 FR 7305, Feb. 19, 1975, unless otherwise noted.

Subpart A-Opinions in Adjudication of
Cases, Administrative Manuals

§ 2.1 Purpose and scope.

This subpart contains the regulations of the Department of the Interior concerning the availability to the public of opinions issued in the adjudication of cases and of administrative manuals. Persons interested in obtaining access to other records are directed to the procedures for submission of Freedom of Information requests set out in Subpart B of this part.

§ 2.2 Opinions in adjudication of cases.

(a) (1) Copies of final decisions and orders issued on and after July 1, 1970, in the following categories of cases are available for inspection and coyping in the Office of Hearings and Appeals,

Ballston Building No. 3, 4015 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, Va. 22203: (i) Contract appeals:

(ii) Appeals from decisions rendered by departmental officials relating to the use and disposition of public lands and their resources and the use and disposition of mineral resources in certain acquired lands of the United States and in the submerged lands of the Outer Continental Shelf;

(iii) Appeals from orders and decisions issued by departmental officials and administrative law judges in proceedings relating to mine health and safety; and

(iv) Appeals from orders and decisions of administrative law judges in Indian probate matters other than those involing estates of Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes and Osage Indians.

(2) Copies of final opinions and orders issued in the following categories of cases are available for inspection and copying in the Docket and Records Section, Office of the Solicitor, Interior Building, Washington, D.C. 20240:

(i) Tort claims decided in the headquarters office of the Office of the Solicitor, and appeals from decisions of Regional Solicitors or Field Solicitors on tort claims;

(ii) Irrigation claims under Public Works Appropriation Acts (e.g., 79 Stat., 1103) or 25 U.S.C. 388 decided in the headquarters office of the Office of the Solicitor, and appeals from decisions of Regional Solicitors on irrigation claims; (iii) Appeals under § 2.18 respecting availability of records;

(iv) Appeals from decisions of officials of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Indian enrollment appeals; and

(v) Appeals from decisions of officers of the Bureau of Land Management and of the Geological Survey in proceedings relating to lands or interests in land, contract appeals, and appeals in Indian probate proceedings, issued prior to July 1, 1970.

(3) An Index-Digest is issued by the Department. All decisions, opinions and orders issued in the categories of cases described in subdivisions paragraph (a) (1), (i), (ii), and (iii) of this section (that is, contract appeals, land appeals, and mine health and safety appeals), are covered in the Index-Digest; in addition, the Index-Digest covers the more important decisions, opinions and orders in the remaining categories of cases described in paragraphs (a) (1) (iv) and (a) (2) (i)–(iv) of this section, and the

more important opinions of law issued by the Office of the Solicitor. The IndexDigest is available for use by the public in the Office of Hearings and Appeals, Ballston Building No. 3, 4015 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, Va. 22203, in the Docket and Records Section, Office of the Solicitor, Interior Building, Washington, D.C. 20240, and in the offices of the Regional Solicitors and Field Solicitors. Selected decisions, opinions, and orders are published in a series entitled "Decisions of the United States Department of the Interior" (cited as I.D.), and copies may be obtained by subscription from the Superintendent of Documents U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402.

(4) Copies of final opinions and orders issued by Regional Solicitors on tort claims and irrigation claims, and copies of final opinions and orders on appeals in Indian probate proceedings issued by Regional Solicitors prior to July 1, 1970, are available for inspection and copying in their respective offices. Copies of final opinions and orders issued by Field Solicitors on tort claims are available for inspection and copying in their respective offices.

(b) (1) Copies of final decisions and orders issued prior to July 1, 1970, on appeals to the Director, Bureau of Land Management, and by hearing examiners of the Bureau of Land Management, in proceedings relating to lands and interests in land are available for inspection and copying in the Office of Hearings and Appeals, Ballston Building No. 3, 4015 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, Va. 22203, and in the offices of the Departmental administrative law judges.

(2) Copies of final decisions, opinions and orders issued on and after July 1, 1970, by departmental administrative law judges in all proceedings before them are available for inspection and copying in their respective offices and in the Office of Hearings and Appeals, Ballston Building No. 3, 4015 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, Va. 22203.

(3) Copies of final decisions, opinions and orders issued by administrative law judges in Indian probate proceedings are available for inspection and copying in their respective offices.

of bureaus of the Department. The administrative manuals of those bureaus which have issued such documents are available for inspection at the headquarters offices and at the regional offices of the bureaus.

Subpart B-Inspection of Records § 2.11 Purpose and scope.

(a) This subpart contains the regulations of the Department of the Interior implementing the requirement of subsection (a)(3) of the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. Section 552(a) (3), which provides that the Department "upon any request for records which (1) reasonably describes such records and (2) is made in accordance with published rules stating the time, place, fees (if any), and procedures to be followed, shall make the records promptly available to any person." This subpart describes the procedures by which records may be obtained from all constituent units of the Department of the Interior. The procedures in this subpart are not applicable to requests for records published in the Federal Register or opinions in the adjudication of cases, statements of policy and interpretations and administrative staff manuals which have been published or made available under Subpart "A" of this part.

(b) Before invoking the formal procedures set out below, persons seeking information or records of the Department may find it useful to consult with officials of the bureau possessing the information or records or the Office of Communications, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C. 20240.

[40 FR 7305, Feb. 19, 1975; 40 FR 10670, Mar. 7, 1975] § 2.12

Definitions.

(a) Act. As used in this subpart, "Act" means the "Freedom of Information Act," 5 U.S.C. § 552.

(b) Bureau. As used in this subpart, "bureau" refers to all constituent bureaus and offices of the Department of the Interior, including the Office of the Secretary and the other Departmental offices.

§ 2.13 Records available.

(a) Department policy. It is the policy of the Department of the Interior to make the records of the Department available to the public to the greatest extent possible, in keeping with the spirit of the Freedom of Information Act.

(b) Statutory disclosure requirement. The Freedom of Information Act requires that the Department, on a request from a member of the public to inspect or copy records made in accordance with the procedures in this subpart, shall promptly make the records available.

(c) Statutory exemptions. The Act exempts nine categories of records from this disclosure requirement. The Act provides that disclosure is not required of matters that are:

(1) Specifically authorized under criteria established by an Executive order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy and in fact properly classified pursuant to such Executive order;

(2) related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an agency; (3) specifically exempt from disclosure by statute;

(4) trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential;

(5) inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or letters which would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency;

(6) personnel and medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;

(7) investigatory records compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that production of such records would (i) interfere with enforcement proceedings, (ii) deprive a person of a right to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication, (iii) constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, (iv) disclose the identity of a confidential source and, in the case of a record compiled by a criminal law enforcement authority in the course of a criminal investigation, or by an agency conducting a lawful national security intelligence investigation, confidential information furnished only by the confidential source, (v) disclose investigative techniques and procedures, or (vi) endanger the life or physical safety of law enforcement personnel;

(8) contained in or related to examination, operating, or condition reports prepared by, on behalf of, or for the use of an agency responsible for the regulation or supervision of financial institutions; or

(9) geological and geophysical information and data, including maps, concerning wells.

(d) Decisions on requests. It is the policy of the Department to withhold information falling within an exemption only if (1) disclosure is prohibited by statute or Executive Order or (2) sound grounds exist for invocation of the exemption.

(e) Deletion of portions of records. If a requested record contains material within an exemption together with material not within an exemption and it is determined under the regulations in this subpart to withhold the exempt material, any reasonably segregable nonexempt material shall be separated from the exempt material.

(f) Creation of records. This subpart applies only to records which exist at the time a request for records is made. Records are not required to be created in response to a request by combining or compiling selected items from the files or by preparing a new computer program, nor are records required to be created to provide the requester with such data as proportions, percentages, frequency distributions, trends, or comparisons.

(g) Records of concern to other departments and agencies. (1) If the release of a record would be of concern to both the Department of the Interior and another Federal agency, the record will be made available by the Department only if the interest of the Department is the primary interest. If the Department's interest is not the primary interest, the requester shall be referred in writing to the agency having the primary interest. The Department of the Interior has the primary interest in a record if the record was developed pursuant to Department regulations, directives, or request even though the record originated outside of the Department.

(2) If the release of a record in which the Department has a primary interest would be of substantial concern to another agency, the official processing the request, should, if administratively feasible and appropriate, consult with that agency before releasing the record.

(h) Records obtained from the public. If a requested record was obtained by the Department from a person or entity outside of the Government, the official responsible for processing the request shall, when it is administratively feasible to do so, seek the views of that per

(a) Submission of requests. A request to inspect or copy records shall be made to the installation where the records are located. If the records are located at more than one installation or if the specific location of the records is not known to the person wishing to inspect or copy the records, he may direct his request to the head of the appropriate bureau, or the bureau's chief public information officer, if any.

(b) Assistance in submitting requests. If a requester is uncertain which bureau of the Department is responsible for a record which he wishes to inspect or copy, he may seek guidance from the Office of Communications, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C. 20240, to assist him in determining the appropriate bureau to which to submit his request.

(c) Form of request. (1) Requests invoking the Freedom of Information Act shall be in writing.

(2) (i) A request must reasonably describe the records requested. A request reasonably describes the records requested if it will enable an employee of the Department familiar with the subject area of the request to locate the record with a reasonable amount of effort. If such information is available, the request should identify the subject matter of the record, the date when it was made, the place where it was made, and the person or office that made it, the present custodian of the record, and any other information which will assist in location of the requested records. If the request involves a matter known by the requester to be in litigation, the request should also state the case name and court hearing the case.

(ii) If the description of a record sought is insufficient to allow identification and location of the record, the response denying the request on this ground shall so state and, to the extent possible, indicate what additional descriptive information, if any, would assist in location of the record.

(3) A request shall state the maximum amount of fees which the requester is willing to pay. Requesters are notified that under § 2.19(d), the failure to state willingness to pay fees as high as are an

ticipated by the Department will delay running of the time limit and delay processing of the request, if the responsible official anticipates that the fees chargeable may exceed $25.00.

(4) (i) To insure expeditious handling, requests shall be prominently marked, both on the envelope and on the face of the request, with the legend "FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST." The failure of a request to bear such a legend will not disqualify a request from processing under the procedures in this subpart if the request otherwise meets the requirements of this section. A request not bearing the legend "FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST" will not, however, be deemed to have been received for purposes of the running of the time limit set out in § 2.16 until it has been identified by bureau personnel as a Freedom of Information request and marked by them with this legend.

(ii) Bureau personnel identifying a communication from the public not bearing the legend "FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST" as a request otherwise meeting the requirements of this section shall immediately (A) mark the communication with the legend "FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST," (B) date the request to reflect the date on which it was identified, and (C) take steps to assure proper processing of the request under the procedures in this subpart.

(d) Categorical requests. (1) 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 (i) it can be determined which particular records are covered by the request and (ii) the records can be seached for, collected and produced without unduly burdening or interfering with Department operations because of the staff time consumed or the resulting disruption of the files.

(2) If a categorical request is determined under paragraph (d) (1) of this section not to reasonably describe the records requested, the response denying the request on that ground shall specify the reasons why and shall extend to the requester an opportunity to confer with knowledgeable Department personnel in an attempt to reduce the request to manageable proportions by reformulation and by agreeing on an orderly procedure for the production of the records.