FOIA Annual Reports to Congress

In accordance with 5 U.S.C. § 552(e), as amended by the Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-231, 110 Stat. 3048, the Federal Trade Commission must submit annual reports to Congress describing its Freedom of Information Act activities for the fiscal year. This report includes basic information about the FOIA request process and explanations of exemptions and statutes that protect certain information from being released by the FTC. The report also provides the number of requests received, processed, and appealed during the fiscal year. It breaks down the figures further to show how many requests were granted, and how many were denied in whole or in part based on each exemption. The report provides data on the FTC’s compliance with time limitations, and compares various FOIA activity figures with those submitted in the previous fiscal year. It also lists the fees and costs accumulated by the FOIA office throughout the year.