For purposes of this subpart:

(a) ASC means the Appraisal Subcommittee of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.

(b) Commercial use request means a request from, or on behalf of, a requester who seeks records for a use or purpose that furthers the commercial, trade, or profit interests of the requester or the person on whose behalf the request is made. In determining whether a request falls within this category, the ASC will determine the use to which a requester will put the records requested and seek additional information as it deems necessary.

(c) Direct costs means those expenditures the ASC actually incurs in searching for, duplicating, and, in the case of commercial requesters, reviewing records in response to a request for records.

(d) Disclose or disclosure mean to give access to a record, whether by producing the written record or by oral discussion of its contents. Where the ASC member or employee authorized to release ASC documents makes a determination that furnishing copies of the documents is necessary, these words include the furnishing of copies of documents or records.

(e) Duplication means the process of making a copy of a record necessary to respond to a request for records or for inspection of original records that contain exempt material or that cannot otherwise be directly inspected. Such copies can take the form of paper copy, microfilm, audiovisual records, or machine readable records (e.g., magnetic tape or computer disk).

(f) Educational institution means a preschool, a public or private elementary or secondary school, an institution of undergraduate or graduate higher education, an institution of professional education, and an institution of vocational education, which operates a program or programs of scholarly research.

(g) Field review includes, but is not limited to, formal and informal investigations of potential irregularities occurring at State appraiser regulatory agencies involving suspected violations of Federal or State civil or criminal laws, as well as such other investigations as may conducted pursuant to law.

(h) Non-commercial scientific institution means an institution that is not operated on a commercial basis as that term is defined in paragraph (b) of this section, and which is operated solely for the purpose of conducting scientific research, the results of which are not intended to promote any particular product or industry.

(i) Record includes records, files, documents, reports correspondence, books, and accounts, or any portion thereof, in any form the ASC regularly maintains them.

(j) Representative of the news media means any person primarily engaged in gathering news for, or a free-lance journalist who can demonstrate a reasonable expectation of having his or her work product published or broadcast by, an entity that is organized and operated to publish or broadcast news to the public. The term news means information that is about current events or that would be of current interest to the general public.

(k) Review means the process of examining documents located in a response to a request that is for a commercial use to determine whether any portion of any document located is permitted to be withheld. It also includes processing any documents for disclosure, e.g, doing all that is necessary to excise them and otherwise prepare them for release. Review does not include time spent resolving general legal or policy issues regarding the application of exemptions.

(l) Search includes all time spent looking for material that is responsive to a request, including page-by-page or line-by-line identification of material within records. Searches may be done manually and/or by computer using existing programming.

(m) State appraiser regulatory agency includes, but is not limited to, any board, commission, individual or other entity that is authorized by State law to license, certify, and supervise the activities or persons authorized to perform appraisals in connections with federally related transactions and real estate related financial transactions that require the services of a State licensed or certified appraiser.

[64 FR 72496, Dec. 28, 1999]