The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 USC § 552 , generally provides that any person has a right of access to federal agency records, unless the records (or any portion of the records) are protected from disclosure by one of the FOIA's nine exemptions, or by one of its three special law enforcement record exclusions. Please visit FOIA.gov - Freedom of Information Act to find more helpful resources about government-wide FOIA administration as well as other information and answers about the FOIA process.
Chief FOIA Officer and FOIA Public Liaison
The Chief FOIA Officer has responsibility for efficient and appropriate compliance with the FOIA. The FFIEC’s Chief FOIA Officer is the FFIEC’s Executive Secretary.
Public liaisons serve as supervisory officials to whom a FOIA requester can raise concerns about the service the FOIA requester has received. The FOIA Public Liaison for the FFIEC is the FFIEC’s Special Assistant to the Executive Secretary.
Making a FOIA Request to the FFIEC
Requests for records must be submitted in writing to the Executive Secretary of the FFIEC. Requests should be marked “Freedom of Information Request,” “FOIA Request,” or the like.
Requests may be mailed or delivered to: FFIEC, Attn: Executive Secretary, 3501 Fairfax Drive, Room E-2035-C, Arlington, VA, 22226-3550
Requests may be emailed to [email protected] or submitted through the National FOIA Portal at https://www.foia.gov.
Contents of Request: All requests should clearly describe the records requested. In addition, requests should contain the following information: the name and mailing address of the requester, an email address, if available, and the telephone number at which the requester may be reached during normal business hours; a statement as to whether the information is intended for commercial use, and whether the requester is an educational or noncommercial scientific institution, or news media representative. Requests should also indicate the format in which responsive records are to be provided, such as paper copy, or digital files.
Fees: All requests must contain a statement agreeing to pay all applicable fees or a statement identifying any desired fee limitation. A request for a waiver or reduction of fees must be made at the time the initial request for records pursuant to the FOIA is submitted. Please include in any waiver request relevant facts or arguments that might support the request for the fee waiver. For more information on fees, please review the FFIEC’s FOIA regulations at 12 CFR § 1101.4.
Expedited Processing: Requesters should also state whether expedited processing is requested. To be eligible for expedited processing, a requester must demonstrate a compelling need for the records requested. The FFIEC ordinarily will only expedite a FOIA request in cases in which there is a threat to someone's life or physical safety, or the requester is primarily engaged in disseminating information and has established that the request is urgently needed to inform the public concerning some actual or alleged government activity.
FOIA Dispute Resolution Services:
A requester seeking to engage in dispute resolution regarding a FOIA request may make a request to the FFIEC FOIA Public Liaison, the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) or both by the following methods:
Requests to the FFIEC FOIA Public Liaison:
Requests to the FFIEC FOIA Public Liaison must be submitted in writing and can be made by:
- Sending an e-mail to the FFIEC FOIA Public Liaison with the subject line clearly marked "FOIA Dispute Request".
- Sending a letter to: FFIEC, Attn: Executive Secretary, 3501 Fairfax Drive, Room E-2035-C, Arlington, VA, 22226-3550.
Requests to the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS):
Requests should be sent to OGIS directly at Office of Government Information Services, National Archives and Records Administration, Room 2510, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740–6001, E-mail: [email protected], Phone: (301) 837-1996, Fax: (301) 837–0348, Toll-free: (877) 684–6448.
By providing this information, the FFIEC does not commit to refer disputes to OGIS, or to defer to OGIS's mediation decisions in particular cases.
FFIEC FOIA Library
Conventional Reading Room: Paper copies of public FFIEC records are available at the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Council, 3501 Fairfax Drive, Room E-2035-C, Arlington, VA, 22226-3550.
Electronic Reading Room:
- FFIEC FOIA Annual Reports
- FFIEC Chief FOIA Officer Reports (Report instituted in 2010)
- FFIEC Quarterly FOIA Reporting (Report instituted 1st Quarter of Fiscal Year 2013; maintained for seven years on FFIEC website through Fiscal Year 2021; as of Fiscal Year 2022, FFIEC quarterly FOIA data is soley reported and published publicly on the National FOIA Portal, https://www.foia.gov).
- FFIEC FOIA LOGS (Current year’s log is available upon request and will be posted at close of calendar year. Logs are maintained for seven years.)
| Additional Resources | |
| Attorney General's FOIA Guidelines (03/19/2009 Memorandum) | https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files /ag/legacy/2009/06/24/foia-memo-march2009.pdf |
| Department of Justice Guide to the FOIA | https://www.justice.gov/oip/doj-guide-freedom-information-act-0 |
| National FOIA Portal | https://www.foia.gov/ |
| US Government Open Data | https://data.gov/ |
| US Government Portal | https://www.usa.gov/ |
| Other Federal Agency FOIA Websites | |
| Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System | https://www.federalreserve.gov/foia/about_foia.htm |
| Consumer Financial Protection Bureau | https://www.consumerfinance.gov/foia-requests/ |
| Department of Justice | https://www.justice.gov/oip |
| Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation | https://www.fdic.gov/foia |
| National Archives and Records Administration | https://www.archives.gov/foia |
| National Credit Union Administration | https://ncua.gov/foia |
| Office of Comptroller of the Currency | https://foia-pal.occ.gov/ |
| *All US government agencies’ FOIA programs can be accessed via the National FOIA Portal, managed by the Department of Justice | https://www.foia.gov/ |
Privacy Act
The Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a, balances the government's need to collect, maintain, use, and disclose personal information about individuals with the rights of those individuals to be protected against unwarranted invasions of privacy. The Privacy Act provides the right for an individual to obtain copies of records maintained on him/her if such information is not exempt from release under the provisions of the law.
Requests for records subject to the Privacy Act can be made only by U.S. citizens or aliens lawfully admitted for permanent U.S. residence status, who are seeking information about themselves, which is retrieved from a system of records by their names or other personal identifiers. Even if a request does not mention the Privacy Act, however, the FFIEC automatically treats requests for agency records as being made under both the FOIA and the Privacy Act whenever it is appropriate to do so.