변호사 이재욱의 미국법 이야기 (Attorney Lee's commentary about U.S. law)

The Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552
As Amended By
Public Law No. 110-175, 121 Stat. 2524
Below is the full text of the Freedom of Information Act in a form showing all
amendments to the statute made by the “Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our
National Government Act of 2007.” All newly enacted provisions are in boldface type.
§ 552. Public information; agency rules, opinions, orders, records, and proceedings
(a) Each agency shall make available to the public information as follows:
(1) Each agency shall separately state and currently publish in the Federal
Register for the guidance of the public—
(A) descriptions of its central and field organization and the established
places at which, the employees (and in the case of a uniformed service, the
members) from whom, and the methods whereby, the public may obtain
information, make submittals or requests, or obtain decisions;
(B) statements of the general course and method by which its functions are
channeled and determined, including the nature and requirements of all
formal and informal procedures available;
(C) rules of procedure, descriptions of forms available or the places at
which forms may be obtained, and instructions as to the scope and
contents of all papers, reports, or examinations;
(D) substantive rules of general applicability adopted as authorized by
law, and statements of general policy or interpretations of general
applicability formulated and adopted by the agency; and
(E) each amendment, revision, or repeal of the foregoing.
Except to the extent that a person has actual and timely notice of the terms
thereof, a person may not in any manner be required to resort to, or be adversely
affected by, a matter required to be published in the Federal Register and not so
published. For the purpose of this paragraph, matter reasonably available to the
class of persons affected thereby is deemed published in the Federal Register
when incorporated by reference therein with the approval of the Director of the
Federal Register.
(2) Each agency, in accordance with published rules, shall make available for
public inspection and copying— (A) final opinions, including concurring and dissenting opinions, as well
as orders, made in the adjudication of cases;
(B) those statements of policy and interpretations which have been
adopted by the agency and are not published in the Federal Register;
(C) administrative staff manuals and instructions to staff that affect a
member of the public;
(D) copies of all records, regardless of form or format, which have been
released to any person under paragraph (3) and which, because of the
nature of their subject matter, the agency determines have become or are
likely to become the subject of subsequent requests for substantially the
same records; and
(E) a general index of the records referred to under subparagraph (D);
unless the materials are promptly published and copies offered for sale. For
records created on or after November 1, 1996, within one year after such date,
each agency shall make such records available, including by computer
telecommunications or, if computer telecommunications means have not been
established by the agency, by other electronic means. To the extent required to
prevent a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, an agency may delete
identifying details when it makes available or publishes an opinion, statement of
policy, interpretation, staff manual, instruction, or copies of records referred to in
subparagraph (D). However, in each case the justification for the deletion shall be
explained fully in writing, and the extent of such deletion shall be indicated on the
portion of the record which is made available or published, unless including that
indication would harm an interest protected by the exemption in subsection (b)
under which the deletion is made. If technically feasible, the extent of the deletion
shall be indicated at the place in the record where the deletion was made. Each
agency shall also maintain and make available for public inspection and copying
current indexes providing identifying information for the public as to any matter
issued, adopted, or promulgated after July 4, 1967, and required by this paragraph
to be made available or published. Each agency shall promptly publish, quarterly
or more frequently, and distribute (by sale or otherwise) copies of each index or
supplements thereto unless it determines by order published in the Federal
Register that the publication would be unnecessary and impracticable, in which
case the agency shall nonetheless provide copies of an index on request at a cost
not to exceed the direct cost of duplication. Each agency shall make the index
referred to in subparagraph (E) available by computer telecommunications by
December 31, 1999. A final order, opinion, statement of policy, interpretation, or
staff manual or instruction that affects a member of the public may be relied on,
used, or cited as precedent by an agency against a party other than an agency only
if— (i) it has been indexed and either made available or published as
provided by this paragraph; or
(ii) the party has actual and timely notice of the terms thereof.
(3)(A) Except with respect to the records made available under paragraphs (1) and
(2) of this subsection, and except as provided in subparagraph (E), each agency,
upon any request for records which (i) reasonably describes such records and (ii)
is made in accordance with published rules stating the time, place, fees (if any),
and procedures to be followed, shall make the records promptly available to any
person.
(B) In making any record available to a person under this paragraph, an
agency shall provide the record in any form or format requested by the
person if the record is readily reproducible by the agency in that form or
format. Each agency shall make reasonable efforts to maintain its records
in forms or formats that are reproducible for purposes of this section.
(C) In responding under this paragraph to a request for records, an agency
shall make reasonable efforts to search for the records in electronic form
or format, except when such efforts would significantly interfere with the
operation of the agency's automated information system.
(D) For purposes of this paragraph, the term "search" means to review,
manually or by automated means, agency records for the purpose of
locating those records which are responsive to a request.
(E) An agency, or part of an agency, that is an element of the intelligence
community (as that term is defined in section 3(4) of the National Security
Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 401a(4))) shall not make any record available
under this paragraph to—
(i) any government entity, other than a State, territory,
commonwealth, or district of the United States, or any subdivision
thereof; or
(ii) a representative of a government entity described in clause (i).
(4)(A)(i) In order to carry out the provisions of this section, each agency shall
promulgate regulations, pursuant to notice and receipt of public comment,
specifying the schedule of fees applicable to the processing of requests under this
section and establishing procedures and guidelines for determining when such
fees should be waived or reduced. Such schedule shall conform to the guidelines
which shall be promulgated, pursuant to notice and receipt of public comment, by
the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and which shall provide for
a uniform schedule of fees for all agencies. (ii) Such agency regulations shall provide that—
(I) fees shall be limited to reasonable standard charges for
document search, duplication, and review, when records are
requested for commercial use;
(II) fees shall be limited to reasonable standard charges for
document duplication when records are not sought for
commercial use and the request is made by an educational
or noncommercial scientific institution, whose purpose is
scholarly or scientific research; or a representative of the
news media; and
(III) for any request not described in (I) or (II), fees shall be
limited to reasonable standard charges for document search
and duplication.
In this clause, the term ‘a representative of the news media’
means any person or entity that gathers information of
potential interest to a segment of the public, uses its editorial
skills to turn the raw materials into a distinct work, and
distributes that work to an audience. In this clause, the term
‘news’ means information that is about current events or that
would be of current interest to the public. Examples of newsmedia entities are television or radio stations broadcasting to
the public at large and publishers of periodicals (but only if
such entities qualify as disseminators of ‘news’) who make
their products available for purchase by or subscription by or
free distribution to the general public. These examples are not
all-inclusive. Moreover, as methods of news delivery evolve (for
example, the adoption of the electronic dissemination of
newspapers through telecommunications services), such
alternative media shall be considered to be news-media
entities. A freelance journalist shall be regarded as working for
a news-media entity if the journalist can demonstrate a solid
basis for expecting publication through that entity, whether or
not the journalist is actually employed by the entity. A
publication contract would present a solid basis for such an
expectation; the Government may also consider the past
publication record of the requester in making such a
determination.
(iii) Documents shall be furnished without any charge or at a
charge reduced below the fees established under clause (ii) if
disclosure of the information is in the public interest because it is
likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the