[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 225 (Friday, November 20, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 74386-74388]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-25462]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Federal Bureau of Investigation

[OMB Number 1110-0053]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed eCollection 
eComments Requested; Extension, Without Change, of a Currently Approved 
Collection; FBI eFOIA Form

AGENCY: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice.

ACTION: 60-Day notice.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice 
(DOJ), will be submitting the following information collection request 
to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in 
accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

DATES: The Department of Justice encourages public comment and will 
accept input until January 19, 2021.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have additional comments 
especially on the estimated public burden or associated response time, 
suggestions, or need a copy of the proposed information collection 
instrument with instructions or additional information, please contact 
Jason Combs, Unit Chief, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 170 Marcel 
Drive, Winchester, VA 22602, [email protected], 540-868-4842.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Written comments and suggestions from the 
public and affected agencies concerning the proposed collection of 
information are encouraged. Your comments should address one or more of 
the following four points:

--Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary 
for the proper performance of the functions of the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation, including whether the information will have practical 
utility;
--Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
--Evaluate whether and if so how the quality, utility, and clarity of 
the information to be collected can be enhanced; and
--Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are 
to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic 
submission of responses.

Overview of This Information Collection

    1. Type of Information Collection: Extension, without change, of a 
currently approved collection.
    2. The Title of the Form/Collection: FBI eFOIA form
    3. The agency form number, if any, and the applicable component of 
the Department sponsoring the collection: The applicable component 
within the Department of Justice is the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation.
    4. Affected public who will be asked or required to respond, as 
well as a brief abstract:
    The general public who wish to make online FOIA requests will be 
the most affected group.
    This information collection is to allow the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation to accept and respond to FOIA requesters as defined in 28 
CFR part 16.3.
    (a) How made and addressed. You may make a request for records of 
the Department of Justice by writing directly to the Department 
component that maintains those records. You may find the Department's 
``Freedom of Information Act Reference Guide''--which is available 
electronically at the Department's World Wide website, and is available 
in paper form as well--helpful in making your request. For additional 
information about the FOIA, you may refer directly to the statute. If 
you are making a request for records about yourself, see Sec.  16.41(d) 
for additional requirements. If you are making a request for records 
about another individual, either a written authorization signed by that 
individual permitting disclosure of those records to you or proof that 
that individual is deceased (for example, a copy of a death certificate 
or an obituary) will help the processing of your request. Your request 
should be sent to the component's FOIA office at the address listed in 
appendix I to part 16. In most cases, your FOIA request should be sent 
to a component's central FOIA office. For records held by a field 
office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) or the Immigration 
and Naturalization Service (INS), however, you must write directly to 
that FBI or INS field office address, which can be found in most 
telephone books or by calling the component's central FOIA office. (The 
functions of each component are summarized in part 0 of this title and 
in the description of the Department and its components in the ``United 
States Government Manual,'' which is issued annually and is available 
in most libraries, as well as for sale from the Government Printing 
Office's Superintendent of Documents. This manual also can be accessed 
electronically at the Government Printing Office's World Wide website 
(which can be found at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs).) If you 
cannot determine where within the Department to send your request, you 
may send it to the FOIA/PA Mail Referral Unit, Justice Management 
Division, U.S. Department of Justice, 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., 
Washington, DC 20530-0001. That office will forward your request to the 
component(s) it believes most likely to have the records that you want. 
Your request will be considered received as of the date it is received 
by the proper component's FOIA office. For the quickest possible 
handling, you should mark both your request letter and the envelope 
``Freedom of Information Act Request.''
    (b) Description of records sought. You must describe the records 
that you seek in enough detail to enable Department personnel to locate 
them with a reasonable amount of effort. Whenever possible, your 
request should include specific information about each record sought, 
such as the date, title or name, author, recipient, and subject matter 
of the record. In addition, if you want records about a court case, you 
should provide the title of the case, the court in which the case was 
filed, and the nature of the case. If known, you should include any 
file designations or descriptions for the records that you want. As a 
general rule, the more specific you are about the records or type of 
records that you want, the more likely the Department will be able to 
locate those records in response to your request. If a component 
determines that your request does not reasonably describe records, it 
shall tell you either what additional information is needed or why your 
request is otherwise insufficient. The component also shall give you an 
opportunity to discuss your request so that you may modify it to meet 
the requirements of this section. If your request does not reasonably 
describe the records you seek, the agency's response to your request 
may be delayed.
    (c) Agreement to pay fees. If you make a FOIA request, it shall be 
considered an agreement by you to pay all applicable fees charged under 
Sec.  16.11, up to $25.00, unless you seek a waiver of fees. The 
component responsible for responding to your request ordinarily will 
confirm this agreement in an acknowledgement letter. When making a 
request, you may specify a willingness to pay a greater or lesser 
amount.
    5. An estimate of the total number of respondents and the amount of 
time estimated for an average respondent to respond: An estimated 
14,000 FOIA request are completed annually. These requests can be 
submitted via free-form letter or the eFOIA form. In FY 2020 
approximately 150 online eFOIA forms were submitted. An average of 8 
minutes per respondent is needed to complete the eFOIA form. The 
estimated range of burden for respondents is expected to be between 4 
minutes to 12 minutes for completion.
    6. An estimate of the total public burden (in hours) associated 
with the

[[Page 74388]]

collection: The estimated public burden associated with this collection 
is .13 hours. It is estimated that respondents will take .13 hour to 
complete a questionnaire. The burden hours for collecting respondent 
data sum to 20 hours (150 respondents x .13 hours = 20 hours).
    If additional information is required contact: Melody Braswell, 
Department Clearance Officer, United States Department of Justice, 
Justice Management Division, Policy and Planning Staff, Two 
Constitution Square, 145 N Street NE, 3E.405A, Washington, DC 20530.

    Dated: November 13, 2020.
Melody Braswell,
Department Clearance Officer for PRA,U.S. Department of Justice.
[FR Doc. 2020-25462 Filed 11-19-20; 8:45 am]
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