(a) General information. (1) Requests for records must be submitted in writing. The Access Board has a central FOIA office that processes all records requests for the agency. To make a request for Access Board records, a requester should send an email to [email protected] or submit a request to the Access Board through the FOIA.govportal (www.foia.gov). Alternatively, requesters may send requests to FOIA Officer, U.S. Access Board, 1331 F Street NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20004.
(2) The agency's FOIA Officer and FOIA Public Liaison are available to assist requesters. Contact information for these individuals is available on the agency's website at www.access-board.gov.
(3) A requester who is making a request for records about himself or herself must comply with verification of identity procedures specified by the FOIA officer.
(4) Where a request for records pertains to a third party, a requester may receive greater access by submitting either a notarized authorization signed by that individual or a declaration made in compliance with the requirements set forth in 28 U.S.C. 1746 by that individual authorizing disclosure of the records to the requester, or by submitting proof that the individual is deceased (e.g., a copy of a death certificate or an obituary). As an exercise of administrative discretion, the agency can require a requester to supply additional information if necessary in order to verify that a particular individual has consented to disclosure.
(b) Description of records sought. Requesters must describe the records sought in sufficient detail to enable agency personnel to locate them with a reasonable amount of effort. To the extent possible, requesters should include specific information that may assist the agency in identifying the requested records, such as the date, title or name, author, recipient, subject matter of the record, case number, file designation, or reference number. In general, requesters should include as much detail as possible about the specific records or the types of records that they are seeking. Before submitting their requests, requesters may contact the agency's FOIA officer or FOIA Public Liaison to discuss the records they are seeking and to receive assistance in describing the records. If after receiving a request the agency determines that it does not reasonably describe the records sought, the agency shall inform the requester what additional information is needed or why the request is otherwise deficient. The timeframe for response described in 1120.5(a) will be tolled upon notification to the requester that additional information is needed to process the request until sufficient information is received by the agency such that the request can be processed. If sufficient information is not subsequently provided by the requester to reasonably describe the records sought or otherwise perfect the request, the request will be denied.