Some of the terms you need to understand while reading this regulation are—

Aggregating means combing multiple requests for documents that could reasonably have been the subject of a single request and which occur within a 30-day period, by a single requester or by a group of requesters acting in concert that would otherwise involve unusual circumstances.

Appeals Officer or FOIA Appeals Officer means a person designated by FHFA who processes appeals of denied FOIA requests for FHFA records.

Chief FOIA Officer means the designated high-level official within FHFA (FHFA-OIG does not have a separate Chief FOIA Officer) who has overall responsibility for the agency's FOIA program and compliance with the FOIA.

Confidential commercial information means records provided to the Federal Government by a submitter that contain material exempt from release under Exemption 4 of the FOIA, 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4), because disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause substantial competitive harm.

Days, unless stated as “calendar days,” are working days and do not include Saturdays, Sundays, and Federal holidays. If the last day of any period prescribed herein falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or Federal holiday, the last day of the period will be the next working day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or Federal holiday.

Direct costs means the expenses, including contract services and retrieving documents from at a Federal records center operated by the National Archives and Records Administration, incurred by FHFA, in searching for, reviewing and/or duplicating records to respond to a request for information. In the case of a commercial use request, the term also means those expenditures FHFA actually incurs in reviewing records to respond to the request. Direct costs include the cost of the time of the employee performing the work, the cost of any computer searches, and the cost of operating duplication equipment. Direct costs do not include overhead expenses such as costs of space, and heating or lighting the facility in which the records are stored.

Duplication means reproducing a copy of a record, or of the information contained in it, necessary to respond to a FOIA request. Copies can take the form of paper, audiovisual materials, or electronic records, among others.

Employee, for the purposes of this regulation, means any person holding an appointment to a position of employment with FHFA, or any person who formerly held such an appointment; any conservator appointed by FHFA; or any agent or independent contractor acting on behalf of FHFA, even though the appointment or contract has terminated.

Fee Waiver means the waiver or reduction of fees if the requester can demonstrate that certain statutory standards are met.

FHFA means each separate component designated by the agency as a primary organizational unit that is responsible for processing FOIA requests, as specified in Appendices A and B to this part. FHFA has two components: Federal Housing Finance Agency Headquarters (FHFA-HQ) and FHFA Office of Inspector General (FHFA-OIG).

FOIA Officer, FOIA Official and Chief FOIA Officer are persons designated by FHFA to process and respond to requests for FHFA records under the FOIA.

FOIA Public Liaison is a person designated by FHFA who is responsible for assisting requesters with their requests.

Proactive disclosure means records that are required by the FOIA to be made publicly available, as well as additional records identified as being of interest to the public that are appropriate for public disclosure, and for posting and indexing such records.

Readily reproducible means that the requested record or records exist in electronic format and can be downloaded or transferred intact to a computer disk, tape, or another electronic medium with equipment and software currently in use by FHFA.

Record means information or documentary material FHFA maintains in any form or format, including electronic, which FHFA—

(1) Created or received under Federal law or in connection with the transaction of public business;

(2) Preserved or determined is appropriate for preservation as evidence of operations or activities of FHFA, or because of the value of the information it contains; and

(3) Controls at the time it receives a request under the FOIA.

Regulated entities means the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, the Federal National Mortgage Association, and the Federal Home Loan Banks.

Requester means any person seeking access to FHFA records under the FOIA. A requester falls into one of three categories for the purpose of determining what fees may be charged. The three categories are—

(1) Commercial—A request that asks for information for a use or a purpose that furthers a commercial, trade, or profit interest, which can include furthering those interests through litigation. A decision to place a requester in the commercial use category will be made on a case-by-case basis based on the requester's intended use of the information;

(2) Noncommercial—Three distinct subcategories—

(i) Educational institution—Any school that operates a program of scholarly research. A requester in this fee category must show that the request is authorized by, and is made under the auspices of, an educational institution and that the records are not sought for a commercial use, but rather are sought to further scholarly research. To fall with this fee category, the request must serve the scholarly research goals of the institution rather than an individual research goal. A student who makes a request in furtherance of their coursework or other school-sponsored activities and provides a copy of a course syllabus or other reasonable documentation to indicate the research purpose for the request would qualify as part of this fee category;

(ii) Noncommercial scientific institution—An institution that is not operated on a “commercial” basis, as defined in this section and that is operated solely for the purpose of conducting scientific research the results of which are not intended to promote any particular product or industry. A request in this category must show that the request is authorized by and is made under the auspices of a qualifying institution and that the records are sought to further scientific research and are not for a commercial use; or

(iii) Representative of the news media—Any person or entity that publishes or broadcasts news to the public, actively gathers information of potential interest to a segment of the public, uses its editorial skills to turn the raw materials into distinct work, and distributes that work to an audience. The term “news” means information that is about current events or that would be of current interest to the public; and

(3) Other—All requesters who do not fall within either of the preceding two categories.

Requester Service Centers serve as the primary contacts for a requester when the requester has questions, is seeking information about how the FOIA works, or to check the status of their request.

Review means the examination of a record located in response to a request in order to determine whether any portion of it is exempt from disclosure. Review time includes processing any record for disclosure, such as doing all that is necessary to prepare the record for disclosure, including the process of redacting the record and marking the appropriate exemptions. Review costs are properly charged even if a record ultimately is not disclosed. Review time also includes time spent both obtaining and considering any formal objection to disclosure made by a confidential commercial information submitter under §1202.8(f) of this part.

Search means the process of looking for and retrieving records or information responsive to a request, whether manually or by electronic means. Search time includes a page-by-page or line-by-line identification of information within a record and the reasonable efforts expanded to locate and retrieve information from electronic records.

Submitter means any person or entity providing confidential information to the Federal Government. The term “submitter” includes, but is not limited to corporations, state governments, and foreign governments.

Unusual circumstances means the need to—

(1) Search for and collect records from agencies, offices, facilities, or locations that are separate from the office processing the request;

(2) Search for, collect, and appropriately examine a voluminous amount of separate and distinct records in order to process a single request; or

(3) Consult with another agency or among two or more components of the FHFA that have a substantial interest in the determination of a request.

Vaughn index means an itemized index, used in litigation, correlating each withheld document (or portion) with a specific FOIA exemption and the relevant part of the agency's nondisclosure justification.

[82 FR 13745, Mar. 15, 2017, as amended at 83 FR 5683, Feb. 9, 2018]