clear and direct, not remote and attenuated. Records developed outside of the government and submitted to or obtained by the Department may relate to the operations and activities of the government if they are informative on how an agency is carrying out its regulatory, enforcement, procurement or other activities that involve private entities.

(ii) If a record concerns the operations or activities of the government, is its disclosure likely to contribute to public understanding of these operations and activities? The likelihood of a contribution to public understanding will depend on consideration of the content of the record, the identity of the requester, and the interrelationship between the two. Is there a logical connection between the content of the requested record and the operations or activities in which the requester is interested? Are the disclosable contents of the record meaningfully informative on the operations or activities? Is the focus of the requester on contribution to public understanding, rather than on the individual understanding of the requester or a narrow segment of interested persons? Does the requester have expertise in the subject area and the ability and intention to disseminate the information to the general public or otherwise use the information in a manner that will contribute to public understanding of government operations or activities? Is the requested information sought by the requester because it may be informative on government operations or activities or because of the intrinsic value of the information independent of the light that it may shed on government operations or activities?

(iii) If there is likely to be a contribution to public understanding, will that contribution be significant? A contribution to public understanding will be significant if the information disclosed is new, clearly supports public oversight of Department operations, including the quality of Department activities and the effect of policy and regulations on public health and safety, or otherwise confirms or clarifies data on past or present operations of the Department. A contribution will not be significant if disclosure will not

have a positive impact on the level of public understanding of the operations or activities involved that existed prior to the disclosure. In particular, a significant contribution is not likely to arise from disclosure of information already in the public domain because it has, for example, previously been published or is routinely available to the general public in a public reading

room.

(3) Factors to be considered in determining whether disclosure "is primarily in the commercial interest of the requester" are the following:

(i) Does the requester have a commercial interest that would be furthered by the requested disclosure? A commercial interest is a commercial, trade or profit interest as these terms are commonly understood. An entity's status is not determinative. Not only profitmaking corporations, but also individuals or other organizations, may have a commercial interest to be served by disclosure, depending on the circumstances involved.

(ii) If the requester has a commercial interest, will disclosure be primarily in that interest? The requester's commercial interest is the primary interest if the magnitude of that interest is greater than the public interest to be served by disclosure. Where a requester is a representative of a news media organization seeking information as part of the news gathering process, it may be presumed that the public interest outweighs the organization's commercial interest.

(4) Notice of denial. If a requested statutory fee waiver or reduction is denied, the requester shall be notified in writing. The notice shall include:

(i) A statement of the basis on which the waiver or reduction has been denied.

(ii) A listing of the names and titles or positions of each person responsible for the denial.

(iii) A statement that the denial may be appealed to the Assistant Secretary-Policy, Budget and Administration and a description of the procedures in §2.18 for appeal.

(b) Discretionary waivers. Fees otherwise chargeable may be waived at the discretion of a bureau if a request involves:

(1) Furnishing unauthenticated copies of documents reproduced for gratuitous distribution;

(2) Furnishing one copy of a personal document (e.g., a birth certificate) to a person who has been required to furnish it for retention by the Department;

(3) Furnishing one copy of the transcript of a hearing before a hearing officer in a grievance or similar proceeding to the employee for whom the hearing was held.

(4) Furnishing records to donors with respect to their gifts;

(5) Furnishing records to individuals or private non-profit organizations having an official voluntary or cooperative relationship with the Department to assist the individual or organization in its work with the Department;

(6) Furnishing records to state, local and foreign governments, public international organizations, and Indian tribes, when to do so without charge is an appropriate courtesy, or when the recipient is carrying on a function related to that of the Department and to do so will help to accomplish the work of the Department;

(7) Furnishing a record when to do so saves costs and yields income equal to the direct cost of providing the records (e.g., where the Department's fee for the service would be included in a billing against the Department);

(8) Furnishing records when to do so is in conformance with generally established business custom (e.g., furnishing personal reference data to prospective employers of former Department employees);

(9) Furnishing one copy of a record in order to assist the requester to obtain financial benefits to which he or she is entitled (e.g., veterans or their dependents, employees with Government employee compensation claims or persons insured by the Government).

§2.22 Special rules governing certain information concerning coal obtained under the Mineral Leasing Act.

(a) Definitions. As used in the section: (1) Act means the Mineral Leasing Act of February 25, 1920, as amended by the Act of August 4, 1976, Pub. L. 94377, 90 Stat. 1083 (30 U.S.C. 181 et seq.),

and the Mineral Leasing Act for Acquired Lands, as amended (30 U.S.C. 351 et seq.)

(2) Exploration license means a license issued by the Secretary of the Interior to conduct coal exploration operations on land subject to the Act pursuant to the authority in section 2(b) of the Act, as amended (30 U.S.C. 201(b)).

(3) Fair-market value of coal to be leased means the minimum amount of a bid the Secretary has determined he is willing to accept in leasing coal within leasing tracts offered in general lease sales or reserved and offered for lease to public bodies, including Federal agencies, rural electric cooperatives, or non-profit corporations, controlled by any of such entities pursuant to section 2(a) of the Act (30 U.S.C. 201(a)(1)). (4) Information means data, statistics, samples and other facts, whether analyzed or processed or not, pertaining to Federal coal resources, which fit within an exemption to the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552(b).

(b) Applicability. This section applies to the following categories of information:

(1) Category A. Information provided to or obtained by a bureau under section 2(b)(3) of the Act from the holder of an exploration license;

(2) Category B. Information acquired from commercial or other sources under service contract with Geological Survey pursuant to section 8A(b) of the Act, and information developed by the Geological Survey under an exploratory program authorized by section 8A of the Act;

(3) Category C. Information obtained from commercial sources which the commercial source acquired while not under contract with the United States Government;

(4) Category D. Information provided to the Secretary by a federal department or agency pursuant to section 8A(e) of the Act; and

(5) Category E. The fair-market value of coal to be leased and comments received by the Secretary with respect to such value.

(c) Availability of information. Information obtained by the Department from various sources will be made available to the public as follows:

(1) Category A-Information. Category A information shall not be disclosed to the public until after the areas to which the information pertains have been leased by the Department, or until the Secretary determines that release of the information to the public would not damage the competitive position of the holder of the exploration license, whichever comes first.

(2) Category B-Information. Category B information shall not be withheld from the public; it will be made available by means of and at the time of open filing or publication by Geological Survey.

(3) Category C-Information. Category C information shall not be made available to the public until after the areas to which the information pertains have been leased by the Department.

(4) Category D-Information. Category D information shall be made available to the public under the terms and conditions to which, at the time he or she acquired it, the head of the department or agency from whom the Secretary later obtained the information agreed.

(5) Category E-Information. Category E information shall not be made public until the lands to which the information pertains have been leased, or until the Secretary has determined that its release prior to the issuance of a lease is in the public interest.

(a) Request for classification review. (1) Requests for a classification review of a document of the Department of the Interior pursuant to section 5(c) of Executive Order 11652 (37 FR 5209, March 10, 1972) and section III B of the National Security Council Directive Governing Classification, Downgrading, Declassification and Safeguarding of National Security Information (37 FR 10053, May 1972) shall be made in accordance with the procedures established by this section.

(2) Any person desiring a classification review of a document of the Department of the Interior containing information classified as National Security Information by reason of the pro

visions of Executive Order 12065 (or any predecessor executive order) and which is more than 10 years old, should address such request to the Chief, Division of Enforcement and Security Management, Office of Administrative Services, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, DC 20240.

(3) Requests need not be made on any special form, but shall, as specified in the executive order, describe the document with sufficient particularity to enable identification of the document requested with expenditure of no more than a reasonable amount of effort.

(4) Charges for locating and reproducing copies of records will be made when deemed applicable in accordance with appendix A to this part and the requester will be notified.

(b) Action on requests for classification review. (1) The Chief, Division of Enforcement and Security Management, shall, unless the request is for a document over 30 years old, assign the request to the bureau having custody of the requested records for action. In the case of requests for declassification of records in the custody of the Office of the Secretary and less than 30 years old, the request shall be processed by the Chief, Division of Enforcement and Security Management. Requests for declassification of documents over 30 years shall be referred directly to the Archivist of the United States. The bureau which has been assigned the request, or the Chief, Division of Enforcement and Security Management, in the case of requests assigned to him, shall immediately acknowledge the request in writing. Every effort will be made to complete action on each request within thirty (30) days of its receipt. If action cannot be completed within thirty (30) days, the requester shall be so advised.

(2) If the requester does not receive a decision on his request within sixty (60) days from the date of receipt of his request, or from the date of his most recent response to a request for more particulars, he may apply to the Department of the Interior Oversight Committee for Security, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, DC 20240, for a decision on his request. The Committee must render a decision within thirty (30) days.

(c) Form of decision and appeal to Oversight Committee for Security. In the event that the bureau to which a request is assigned or the Chief, Division of Enforcement and Security Management, in the case of a request assigned to him, determines that the requested information must remain classified by reason of the provisions of Executive Order 11652, the requester shall be given prompt notification of that decision and, whenever possible, shall be provided with a brief statement as to why the information or material cannot be declassified. He shall also be advised that if he desires he may appeal the determination to the Chairman, Department of the Interior Oversight Committee for Security, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, DC 20240. An appeal shall include a brief statement as to why the requester disagrees with the decision which he is appealing. The Department Oversight Committee for Security shall render its decision within thirty (30) days of receipt of an appeal. The Departmental Committee shall be authorized to overrule previous determinations in whole or in part when, in its judgement, continued protection is no longer required.

(d) Appeal to Interagency Classification Review Committee. Whenever the Department of the Interior Oversight Committee for Security confirms a determination for continued classification, it shall so notify the requester and advise him that he is entitled to appeal the decision to the Interagency Classification Review Committee established under section 8(A) of the Executive Order 11652. Such appeals shall be addressed to the Interagency Classification Review Committee, the Executive Office Building, Washington, DC 20500.

(e) Suggestions and complaints. Any person may also direct suggestions or complaints with respect to the administration of the other provisions of Executive Order 11652 and the NSC Directive by the Department of the Interior to the Department of the Interior Oversight Committee for Security, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, DC 20240.

[40 FR 7305, Feb. 19, 1975, as amended at 47 FR 38327, Aug. 31, 1982]

Subpart D-Privacy Act

SOURCE: 40 FR 44505, Sept. 26, 1975, unless otherwise noted.

§2.45 Purpose and scope.

This subpart contains the regulations of the Department of the Interior implementing section 3 of the Privacy Act. Sections 2.47 through 2.57 describe the procedures and policies of the Department concerning maintenance of records which are subject to the Act. Sections 2.60 through 2.66 describe the procedure under which individuals may determine whether systems of records subject to the Act contain records relating to them and the procedure under which they may seek access to existing records. Sections 2.70 through 2.77 describe the procedure under which individuals may petition for amendment of records subject to the Act relating to them. Section 2.79 lists records systems that have been exempted from certain requirements of the Act.

[48 FR 56583, Dec. 22, 1983]

§2.46 Definitions.

(a) Act. As used in this subpart, "Act" means section 3 of the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. 552a.

(b) Bureau. For purposes of this subpart, a "bureau" is any constituent bureau or office of the Department, including the Office of the Secretary and any other Departmental office.

(c) Individual. As used in this subpart, "individual" means a citizen of the United States or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence.

(d) Maintain. As used in this subpart, the term "maintain" includes maintain, collect, use or disseminate.

(e) Record. As used in this subpart, "record" means any item, collection, or grouping of information about an individual that is maintained by the Department or a bureau thereof, including, but not limited to, education, financial transactions, medical history, and criminal or employment history and that contains the individual's name, or the identifying number, symbol, or other identifying particular assigned to the individual, such as a finger or voice print, or a photograph.

(f) System of records. As used in this subpart, "System of records" means a group of any records under the control of the Department or a bureau thereof from which information is retrieved by the name of the individual or by some identifying number, symbol, or other identifying particular assigned to the individual.

(g) Medical records. As used in this subpart, "medical records" means records which relate to the identification, prevention, cure or alleviation of any disease, illness or injury including psychological disorders, alcoholism

and drug addiction.

(h) Office of Personnel Management personnel records. As used in the subpart, "Office of Personnel Management personnel records" means records maintained for the Office of Personnel Management by the Department and used for personnel management programs or processes such as staffing, employee

development, retirement, and grievances and appeals.

(i) Statistical records. As used in this subpart, "statistical records" means records in a system of records maintained for statistical research or reporting purposes only and not used in whole or in part in making any determination about an identifiable individual.

(j) Routine use. As used in this subpart, "routine use" means a use of a record for a purpose which is compatible with the purpose for which it was collected.

(k) System notice. As used in this subpart, "system notice" means the notice describing a system of records required by 5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(4) to be published in the FEDERAL REGISTER upon establishment or revision of the system of records.

(1) System manager. As used in this subpart, "system manager" means the official designated in a system notice as having administrative responsibility for a system of records.

(m) Departmental Privacy Act Officer. As used in this subpart, "Departmental Privacy Act Officer" means the official in the Office of the Assistant Secretary-Policy, Budget and Administration charged with responsibility for assisting the Assistant Secretary-Policy, Budget and Administration in car

rying out the functions assigned in this subpart and for coordinating the activities of the bureaus of the Department in carrying out the functions which they are assigned in this subpart.

(n) Bureau Privacy Act Officer. As used in this subpart, "Bureau Privacy Act Officer" means the official within each bureau assigned responsibility for bureau implementation of the Act and the regulations of this subpart.

(0) Working day. As used in this subpart, "working day" means a regular Federal work day. It does not include Saturdays, Sundays or public legal holidays.

[40 FR 44505, Sept. 26, 1975, as amended at 47 FR 38327, Aug. 31, 1982; 48 FR 56583, Dec. 22, 1983; 53 FR 3749, Feb. 9, 1988]

§2.47 Records subject to Privacy Act.

The Privacy Act applies to all "records," as that term is defined in §2.46(e), which the Department maintains in a "system of records," as that term is defined in §2.46(f).

§ 2.48 Standards for maintenance of records subject to the Act.

(a) Content of records. Records subject to the Act shall contain only such information about an individual as is relevant and necessary to accomplish a purpose of the agency required to be accomplished by statute or Executive Order of the President.

(b) Standards of accuracy. Records subject to the Act which are used in making any determination about any individual shall be maintained with such accuracy, relevance, timeliness, and completeness as is reasonably necessary to assure fairness to the individual in making the determination.

(c) Collection of information. (1) Information which may be used in making determinations about an individual's rights, benefits, and privileges under Federal programs shall, to the greatest extent practicable, be collected directly from that individual.

(2) In deciding whether collection of information from an individual, as opposed to a third party source, is practicable, the following factors, among others, may be considered: