(a) In general.

(1) The appellate official will conduct a de novo review of the entire record and applicable law when making a decision.

(2) The decision on the appeal will be made in writing and will be considered the final action of HUD.

(i) A decision affirming an adverse determination, in whole or in part, will contain a statement of the reason(s) for the affirmation, including any FOIA exemption(s) applied, and will inform the appellant of the FOIA provisions for potential court review of the decision.

(ii) If the adverse determination is modified on appeal, in whole or in part, a written decision will be sent to the appellant and the FOIA request will be reprocessed in accordance with the appeal decision.

(iii) Adverse decisions will include the name and contact information of dispute resolution services that offer mediation services to resolve disputes between FOIA requesters and Federal agencies as a nonexclusive alternative to litigation.

(b) Appeal of a denial of record request. Upon appeal of a denial of a record request, the appellate official will issue a decision that either:

(1) Overturns the adverse determination, in whole or in part, and remands the request to the appropriate office. The requester will be notified of the rationale for the determination in writing. The original office will then reprocess the request in accordance with the appeal determination and respond directly to the requester; or

(2) Affirms the adverse determination and declines to provide the requested records to the appellant.

(c) Appeal of a fee determination. Upon appeal of a fee determination, the appellate official will issue a decision that either:

(1) Waives the fee or charges the fee that the appellant requested;

(2) Modifies the original fee charged and explains why the modified fee is appropriate; or

(3) Advises the appellant that the original fee charged was appropriate and gives the reason behind this determination.

(d) Appeal of a denial of expedited processing. Upon appeal of a denial of an expedited processing request, the appellate official will issue a decision that either:

(1) Overturns the adverse determination and grants the expedited processing request; or

(2) Affirms the decision to deny expedited processing.