Amendment to the Freedom of Information Act Regulations

This document amends the Department of the Interior's (DOI) regulations implementing the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552. In particular, it: clarifies the time limit that requesters have for filing FOIA appeals; clarifies that requesters must include the required documentation with their appeals or their appeals may be rejected by the FOIA Appeals Officer; clarifies that requesters must file a FOIA request with each separate bureau/office from which they are seeking records; changes the language regarding requests for expedited processing to be consistent with the language used in the FOIA including removing a paragraph in that section pertaining to "due process rights;" makes the use of multitrack processing mandatory for all bureaus and offices; advises requesters that they may contact the bureau/office's FOIA Requester Service Center and the FOIA Public Liaison concerning the status of their requests; and includes current contact information for DOI's FOIA and Public Affairs/Office of Communications Contacts and its reading rooms (Headquarters). Additionally, the final rule revises the definitions of the terms: "representative of the news media" and "freelance journalist" in accordance with the Openness Promotes Effectiveness in Our National (OPEN) Government Act of 2007 (December 31, 2007). The term "news" is defined within the term "representative of the news media."