[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 20, Volume 1]

[Revised as of April 1, 2005]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 20CFR200.4]



[Page 159-165]

 

                      TITLE 20--EMPLOYEES' BENEFITS

 

                  CHAPTER II--RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD

 

PART 200_GENERAL ADMINISTRATION--Table of Contents

 

Sec.  200.4  Availability of information to public.



    (a) The following materials (more particularly described in 

paragraph (d) of this section), with identifying details deleted 

pursuant to paragraph (b) of this section, are available for public 

inspection and copying:

    (1) All final opinions (including concurring and dissenting 

opinions), and all orders made in the adjudication of cases, which have 

precedential effect;

    (2) All statements of policy and interpretations which have been 

adopted by the Board, or by anyone under authority delegated by the 

Board, which have not been published in the Federal Register; and

    (3) Administrative staff manuals and instructions to staff that 

affect any member of the public.

    (b) The identifying details to be deleted shall include, but not be 

limited to, names and identifying numbers of employees and other 

individuals as needed to comply with sections 12(d) and (n) of the 

Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act, section 7(b)(3) of the Railroad 

Retirement Act, and Sec.  200.8 of this part, or to prevent a clearly 

unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.

    (c) There shall be maintained in the Board's library a current index 

of the materials referred to in paragraph (a)



[[Page 160]]



of this section which will have been issued, adopted, or promulgated 

subsequent to July 4, 1967. This index shall be available for public 

inspection and copying at the Board's headquarters offices located at 

844 Rush Street, Chicago, Illinois, during the normal business hours of 

the Board. Copies of the index or any portion thereof may be obtained 

for a fee equivalent to the costs of reproduction by submitting a 

written request therefor. Such request should comply with the form for 

requests as described in paragraph (h) of this section.

    (d) The materials and indexes thereto shall be kept, and made 

available to the public upon request, in the bureaus and offices of the 

Board that produce or utilize the materials. The following materials 

currently in use shall, as long as they are in effect as precedents and 

instructions, be made available in offices of the Board at 844 North 

Rush Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611-2092:

    (1) In the Office of Programs/Operations: The Retirement Claims 

Manual, RCM Circulars, Special Services Manual, Policy Decisions, 

Procedural Memoranda containing information on the adjudication of 

claims not contained in the Retirement Claims Manual or in RCM 

Circulars, Field Operating Manual (Parts I and VI), FOM Circulars and 

Memoranda, the Occupational Disability Rating Schedule, Adjudication 

Instruction Manual, Regional Operating Manual (Part I), memorandum 

instructions on adjudication, and circular letters of instruction to 

railroad officials.

    (2) In the Office of Programs/Assessment and Training: The 

Instructions to Employers, and Circular Letters to Employers.

    (3) In the Office of General Counsel: Legal Opinions.

    (4) In the Office of the Secretary to the Board: Decisions and 

rulings of the Board.

    (5) Regional offices and field offices shall also make available to 

the extent practicable such of these materials and indexes as are 

furnished them in the ordinary course of business.

    (e) The copies of manuals and instructions made available for public 

copying and inspection shall not include:

    (1) Confidential statements, standards, and instructions which do 

not affect the public, and

    (2) Instructions not affecting the public (such as those relating 

solely to processing and procedure, to management, or to personnel) 

which it is feasible to separate from instructions that do affect the 

public.

    (f) With the exception of records specifically excluded from 

disclosure by section 552(b) of title 5, United States Code, or other 

applicable statute, any records of or in the custody of this agency, 

other than those made available under paragraphs (a), (c), and (d) of 

this section, shall, upon receipt of a written request reasonably 

describing them, promptly be made available to the person requesting 

them.

    (g) The RRB may charge the person of persons making a request for 

records under paragraph (f) of this section a fee in an amount not to 

exceed the costs actually incurred in complying with the request and not 

to exceed the cost of processing a check for payment. Depending on the 

category into which the request falls, a fee may be assessed for the 

cost of search for documents, reviewing documents to determine whether 

any portion of any located documents is permitted to be withheld, and 

duplicating documents.

    (1) Fee schedule. To the extent that the following are chargeable, 

they are chargeable according to the following schedule:

    (i) The charge for making a manual search for records shall be the 

salary rate, including benefits, for a GS-7, step 5 Federal employee;

    (ii) The charge for reviewing documents to determine whether any 

portion of any located document is permitted to be withheld shall be the 

salary rate, including benefits, for a GS-13, step 5 Federal employee;

    (iii) The charge for making photocopies of any size document shall 

be $.10 per copy per page:

    (iv) The charge for computer-generated listings or labels shall 

include the direct cost to the RRB of analysis and programming, where 

required, plus the cost of computer operations to produce the listing or 

labels. The maximum computer search charge shall be $2,250.00 per hour 

($37.50 per minute).



[[Page 161]]



Search time shall not include the time expended in analysis or 

programming where these operations are required.

    (v) There shall be no charge for transmitting documents by regular 

post. The charge for all other methods of transmitting documents shall 

be the actual cost of transmittal.

    (2) Categories of requesters. For the purpose of assessing fees, 

requesters shall be classified into one of the following five groups:

    (i) Commercial use requesters. Commercial use requesters are 

requesters who seek information for a use or purpose that furthers the 

commercial, trade, or profit interests of the requester or the person on 

whose behalf the request is made. For such requesters, the RRB will 

fully charge for the cost of searching, reviewing and copying and shall 

not consider a request for waiver or reduction of fees based upon an 

assertion that disclosure would be in the public interest; however, the 

RRB will not charge a fee if the total cost for searching, reviewing, 

and copying is less than $10.00.

    (ii) Educational and non-commercial scientific institution 

requesters. Educational requesters are educational institutions which 

operate a program or programs of scholarly research. They may be a 

preschool, a public or private elementary or secondary school, an 

institution of graduate higher education, an institution of 

undergraduate higher education, an institution of professional 

education, or an institution of vocational education. Non-commercial 

scientific requesters are institutions that are not operated on a 

``commercial'' basis and which are operated solely for the purpose of 

conducting scientific research the results of which are not intended to 

promote any particular product or industry. To be eligible for inclusion 

in this category, requesters must show that the request is being made 

under the auspices of a qualifying institution and that the records are 

not sought for a commercial use, but are sought in furtherance of 

scholarly (if the request is from an educational institution) or 

scientific (if the request is from a non-commercial scientific 

institution) research. For requesters in this category, the RRB shall 

charge for the cost of reproduction alone, excluding the first 100 

pages, for which no charge will be made. If after excluding the cost of 

the first 100 pages of reproduction, there remain costs to be assessed, 

the RRB will not charge for such costs is such costs total less than 

$10.00. If the cost is $10.00 or more, the RRB may waive the charge or 

reduce it if it determines that disclosure of the information is in the 

public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to 

public understanding of the operations or activities of the government 

and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester. To be 

eligible for free search time, these requesters must reasonably describe 

the records sought.

    (iii) Requesters who are representatives of the news media. The term 

``representative of the news media'' refers to any person actively 

gathering news for an entity that is organized and operated to publish 

or broadcast news to the public. The term ``news'' means information 

that is about current events or that could be of interest to the public. 

In the case of ``freelance'' journalists, they may be regarded as 

working for a news organization if they can demonstrate a solid basis 

for expecting publication through that organization, even though not 

actually employed by it. For requesters in this category the RRB shall 

charge for the cost of reproduction alone excluding the cost of the 

first 100 pages, for which no charge will be made. If, after excluding 

the cost of the first 100 pages of reproduction, there remain costs to 

be assessed, the RRB will not charge for such costs if such costs total 

less than $10.00. If the cost is $10.00 or more, the RRB may waive the 

charge or reduce it if it determines that disclosure is in the public 

interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public 

understanding of the operations or activities of the government and is 

not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester. To be 

eligible for free search time, these requesters must reasonably describe 

the record sought.

    (iv) Requests by subjects of records in Privacy Act Systems of 

Records. Requests from subject individuals for records about themselves 

filed in any of the Board's Privacy Act Systems of records will continue 

to be treated under the



[[Page 162]]



fee provisions of the Privacy Act of 1984 which permit assessing fees 

only for reproduction.

    (v) All other requesters. For requesters who do not fall within the 

purview of paragraph (g)(2)(i), (ii), (iii), or (iv) of this section, 

the RRB will charge the full direct cost of searching for and 

reproducing records that are responsive to the request. The RRB will not 

charge for such costs to be assessed if the total is less than $10.00. 

If the total is $10.00 or more, the RRB may waive the charge or reduce 

it if it determines that disclosure of the information is in the public 

interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public 

understanding of the operations or activities of the government and is 

not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester.

    (3) Charges for unsuccessful searches. Where search time is 

chargeable, the RRB may assess charges for time spent searching, even if 

the RRB fails to locate the records, or if located, the records are 

determined to be exempt from disclosure. If the Board estimates that 

search charges are likely to exceed $25.00 it will notify the requester 

of the estimated amount of fees, unless the requester has agreed in 

advance to pay fees as high as those anticipated. Such notice will offer 

the requester the opportunity to confer with agency personnel with the 

object of reformulating the request to meet his or here needs at a lower 

cost.

    (4) Aggregating requests. When the RRB reasonably believes that a 

requester or group of requesters acting in concert is attempting to 

break a request into a series of requests for the purpose of evading the 

assessment of fees, the RRB will aggregate any such requests and charge 

accordingly. One element the RRB will consider in determining whether a 

belief would be reasonable is the time period in which the requests have 

been.

    (5) Advance payments. (i) The RRB estimates or determines that the 

allowable charges payment unless:

    (A) The RRV estimates or determines that the allowable charges that 

a requester may be required to pay are likely to exceed $250.00, in 

which case the RRV will notify the requester of the likely cost and 

obtain satisfactory assurance of full payment where the requester has a 

history of prompt payment of FOIA fees, or require an advance payment of 

an amount up to the full estimated charges in the case of requesters 

with no history of payment; or

    (B) A requester has previously failed to pay a fee charged in a 

timely fashion (i.e., within 30 days of the date of the billing), in 

which case the RRB may require the requester to pay the full amount owed 

plus any applicable interest as provided below of demonstrate that he 

has, in fact, paid the fee, and to make an advance payment of the full 

amount of the estimated fee before the agency begins to process a new 

request or a pending request from that requester.

    (ii) When the Board acts under paragraph (g)(5)(i) of this section, 

the administrative time limits prescribed in subsection (a)(6) of the 

Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552(a)(6)) (i.e., 10 working days 

from receipt of initial requests and 20 working days from receipt of 

appeals from initial denials, plus permissible extensions of these time 

limits) will begin only after the Board has received the fee payments 

described in said paragraph (g)(5)(i) of this section.

    (6) Charging interest. Interest may be charged to any requester who 

fails to pay fees charged within 30 days fo the date of billing. 

Interest will be assessed beginning on the 31st day following the day on 

which the bill for fees was sent. Interest will be the rate prescribed 

in section 3717 of title 31 of the U.S. Code Annotated and will accrue 

from the date of the billing.

    (7) Collection of fees due. Whenever it is appropriate in the 

judgment of the Board in order to encourage repayment of fees billed in 

accordance with these regulations, the Board will use the procedures 

authorized by the Debt Collection Act of 1982 (Pub. L. 97-365), 

including disclosure to consumer reporting agencies and use of 

collection agencies.

    (h) Any person or organization requesting records pursuant to this 

section shall submit such request in writing to the General Counsel, 

Railroad Retirement Board, Room 836, 844 North Rush Street, Chicago, 

Illinois 60611-



[[Page 163]]



2092. All such requests should be clearly and prominently identified as 

requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act. If 

submitted by mail or otherwise submitted in an envelope or other cover, 

requests should be clearly and prominently identified as such on the 

envelope or cover. Requests may also be submitted by e-mail, 

LAWGroupMailbox@rrb.gov.

    (i) The General Counsel, or any other individual specifically 

authorized to act on behalf of the General Counsel, shall have the 

authority to grant or deny a request for information submitted under 

this section. The General Counsel or such authorized representative 

shall, within 20 working days following the receipt of a request, except 

as provided in paragraph (j)(1) of this section, make a determination 

granting or denying the request and notify the requester of his or her 

decision, and if a denial, the reasons therefor. The requester shall be 

further advised that a total or partial denial may be appealed to the 

Board as provided in paragraph (j) of this section.

    (j) In cases where a request for information is denied, in whole or 

in part, by the General Counsel or his or her authorized representative, 

the party who originally made the request may appeal such determination 

to the Board by filing a written appeal with the Secretary of the Board 

within 20 working days following receipt of the notice of denial. The 

Board shall render a decision on an appeal within 20 working days 

following receipt of the appeal except as provided in paragraph (j)(1) 

of this section. The requester shall promptly be notified of the Board's 

decision and, in cases where the denial is upheld, of the provisions for 

judicial review of such final administrative decisions.

    (1) In unusual circumstances, as enumerated in section 552(a)(6)(B) 

of title 5, United States Code, the time restrictions of paragraphs (i) 

and (j) of this section may be extended in the aggregate by no more than 

10 days by notice to the requester of such extension, the reasons 

therefor, and the date on which a determination is expected to be 

dispatched.

    (2) For purposes of paragraphs (i) and (j) of this section, a 

request shall be received by the General Counsel of the Board when it 

arrives at the Board's headquarters. Provided, however, That when the 

estimated fee to be assessed for a given request exceeds $30.00, such 

request shall be deemed not to have been received by the General Counsel 

until the requester is advised of the estimated cost and agrees to bear 

it. Provided further, That a request which does not fully comply with 

all the provisions of paragraph (h) of this section shall be deemed to 

have been received by the General Counsel on the day it actually reaches 

his or her office.

    (k) Any person in the employ of the Railroad Retirement Board who 

receives a request for any information, document or record of this 

agency, or in the custody thereof, shall advise the requester to address 

such request to the General Counsel. If the request received is in 

writing, it shall be immediately referred for action to the Executive 

Director.

    (l) The General Counsel shall maintain records of:

    (1) The total amount of fees collected by this agency pursuant to 

this section;

    (2) The number of initial denials of requests for records made 

pursuant to this section and the reason for each;

    (3) The number of appeals from such denials and the result of each 

appeal, together with the reason(s) for the action upon each appeal that 

results in a denial of information;

    (4) The name(s) and title(s) or position(s) of each person 

responsible for each initial denial of records requested and the number 

of instances of action on a request for information for each such 

person;

    (5) The results of each proceeding conducted pursuant to section 

552(a)(4)(F) of title 5 U.S. Code, including a report of any 

disciplinary action against an official or employee who was determined 

to be primarily responsible for improperly withholding records, or an 

explanation of why disciplinary action was not taken;

    (6) Every rule made by this agency affecting or in implementation of 

section 552 of title 5 U.S. Code;

    (7) The fee schedule for copies of records and documents requested 

pursuant to this regulation; and



[[Page 164]]



    (8) All other information which indicates efforts to administer 

fully the letter and spirit of section 552 of title 5 U.S. Code.

    (m) The Board shall, prior to February 1 of each year, prepare and 

submit a report to the Attorney General of the United States covering 

each of the categories of records maintained in accordance with the 

foregoing for the preceding fiscal year.

    (n) Special procedures for handling requests for business 

information:

    (1) The Freedom of Information Act exempts from mandatory disclosure 

matters that are ``trade secrets and commercial or financial information 

obtained from a person and privileged or confidential * * *.'' The Board 

maintains records that may include information within this exception and 

to protect the rights of submitters of business information with respect 

to the confidentiality of such information, all requests for records or 

information contained in contract bids, contract proposals, contracts, 

and similar business information documents shall be handled in 

accordance with the procedures established by this paragraph.

    (2) When the Executive Director or an individual authorized to grant 

or deny requests under the Freedom of Information Act receives a request 

for business information, the General Counsel or other individual shall 

promptly provide the person who submitted the information to the Board 

with written notice that a request for the information has been made. 

The notice shall specify what record or information has been requested 

and shall inform the business submitter that the submitter may, within 

ten working days after the date of the notice, file a written objection 

to disclosure of the information or portions of the information. The 

written objection to disclosure shall be addressed to the individual 

whose name appears in the notification and shall specify the portion or 

portions of the information that the submitter believes should not be 

disclosed and state the grounds or bases for objecting to disclosure of 

such portion or portions. No written notice to the business submitter 

shall be required under this subparagraph if it is readily determined 

that the information will not be disclosed or that the information has 

lawfully been published or otherwise made available to the public.

    (3) In determining whether to grant or deny the request for the 

business information, the official or entity making the determination 

shall carefully consider any objection to disclosure made by the 

submitter of the information in question.

    (4) If a determination is made to disclose information with respect 

to which the business submitter has filed an objection to disclosure, 

the official or entity making the determination shall, no later than ten 

working days prior to the date on which disclosure of the information 

will be made, provide the submitter with written notice of the 

determination to disclose. The written notice shall state the reasons 

why the submitter's grounds for objecting to disclosure were rejected 

and inform the submitter of the date on which the information is to be 

disclosed.

    (5) The Board shall promptly notify the business submitter of any 

suit commenced under the Freedom of Information Act to compel disclosure 

of information which he or she submitted to the Board.

    (o) Custom tailored information services; Fees charged. This 

paragraph and paragraph (p) of this section set forth the policy of the 

Railroad Retirement Board with respect to the assessment of a fee for 

providing custom tailored information where requested. Except as 

provided in paragraphs (o)(4)(vii) and (p) of this section, a fee shall 

be charged for providing custom tailored information.

    (1) Definition: Custom tailored information. Custom tailored 

information is information not otherwise required to be disclosed under 

this part but which can be created or extracted and manipulated, 

reformatted, or otherwise prepared to the specifications of the 

requester from existing records. For example, the Board needs to program 

computers to provide data in a particular format or to compile selected 

items from records, provide statistical data, ratios, proportions, 

percentages, etc. If this data is not already compiled and available, 

the end product would be



[[Page 165]]



the result of custom tailored information services.

    (2) Providing custom tailored information. The Board is not required 

to provide custom tailored information. It will do so only when the 

appropriate fees have been paid as provided in paragraph (o)(4) of this 

section and when the request for such information will not divert staff 

and equipment from the Board's primary responsibilities.

    (3) Requesting custom tailored information. Information may be 

requested in person, by telephone, or by mail. Any request should 

reasonably describe the information wanted and may be sent to the 

Director of Administration, Railroad Retirement Board, 844 North Rush 

Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611-2092.

    (4) Fee schedule. Requests for custom tailored information are 

chargeable according to the following schedule:

    (i) Manual searching for records. Full cost of the time of the 

employees who perform the service, even if records cannot be found, 

management and supervisory costs, plus the full costs of any machine 

time and materials the employee uses. Consulting and other indirect 

costs will be assessed as appropriate.

    (ii) Photocopying or reproducing records on magnetic tapes or 

computer diskettes. The charge for making photocopies of any size 

document shall be $.10 per copy per page. The charge for reproducing 

records on magnetic tapes or computer diskettes is the full cost of the 

operator's time plus the full cost of the machine time and the materials 

used.

    (iii) Use of electronic data processing equipment to obtain records. 

Full cost for the service, including computer search time and computer 

runs and printouts, and the time of computer programmers and operators 

and of other employees.

    (iv) Certification or authentication. Full cost of certification and 

authentication.

    (v) Providing other special services. Full cost of the time of the 

employee who performs the service, management and supervisory costs, 

plus the full costs of any machine time and materials the employee uses. 

Consulting and other indirect costs will be assessed as appropriate.

    (vi) Special forwarding arrangements. Full cost of special 

arrangements for forwarding material requested.

    (vii) Statutory supersession. Where a Federal statute prohibits the 

assessment of a charge for a service or addresses an aspect of that 

charge, the statute shall take precedence over this paragraph (o).

    (p) Assessment of a fee with respect to the provision of custom 

tailored information where the identification of the beneficiary is 

obscure and where provision of the information can be seen as benefiting 

the public generally. When the identification of a specific beneficiary 

with respect to the provision of custom tailored information is obscure, 

the service can be considered primarily as benefiting broadly the 

general public, and the estimated cost of providing the information is 

less than $1,000.00, the Director of Administration shall determine 

whether or not a fee is to be charged. In any such case where the cost 

is $1,000.00 or more, the request shall be referred by the Director of 

Administration to the three-member Board for a determination whether or 

not a fee is to be assessed.



[Board Order 6784, 32 FR 9651, Sept. 4, 1967, as amended at 40 FR 7255, 

Feb. 19, 1975; 48 FR 51447, 51448, Nov. 9, 1983; 50 FR 26357, June 26, 

1985. Redesignated at 52 FR 11010, Apr. 6, 1987, as amended at 52 FR 

13820, Apr. 24, 1987; 54 FR 43055, Oct. 20, 1989; 59 FR 28765, June 3, 

1994; 60 FR 29984, June 7, 1995; 61 FR 25390, May 21, 1996; 68 FR 61621, 

Oct. 29, 2003]