The Federal Trade Commission has proposed new amendments and rules that would increase transparency through the Freedom of Information Act.
According to a Feb. 21 press release from the FTC website, http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2013/02/foia.shtm, the proposed amendments would waive all fees that are less than $25, prohibit “certain fees when agency responses are not timely,” and clarifying whether or not certain public materials are freely available among other things.
Currently, the waiver of small charges section is listed as $14, according to the FTC document.
As for timely responses, the provision states if the request fails “to comply with the time limits in which to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request” the searching fee will be dropped.
The amendments also would update proper ways to submit FOIA requests and appeals other than by the traditional method of mail.
In the same press release is the FTC’s final ruling to add a new category to a list of public records. This would require all distributed materials at public proceedings to become public record.
Though the FTC document states that often the material is already put into public record, this rule would require all documents, transcripts and written statements in connection with the proceedings to be automatically available for the public, clearing up resources for other FOIA requests.
Public comment on the proposed amendments are due by March 29. The official comment form can be found here: https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/feeschedule/