All communications between CPSC and manufacturers seeking to withhold information from release
| Tracking # |
19-F-00115 19-F-00078 |
| Submitted | Dec. 6, 2018 |
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Communications
From: Paul Gottinger
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
All communications between CPSC and manufacturers or private labelers seeking to withhold information from release in accordance with the Commission's authority under 15 U.S.C. § 2055(b) from the dates January 1, 2018 to the present.
I am a career journalist with work that has appeared at The Daily Beast among other publications. I am willing to pay any reasonable expenses associated with this request, however, as the purpose of the requested disclosure is in full conformity with the statutory requirements for a waiver of fees, I formally request such a waiver.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Paul Gottinger
From: Consumer Products Safety Commission
Dear Mr. Gottinger,
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (Commission) is in receipt of your request for information pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), filed via MuckRock.com on December 6, 2018 (see attachment).
In your request, you seek:
All communications between CPSC and manufacturers or private labelers seeking to withhold
information from release in accordance with the Commission's authority under 15 U.S.C. §
2055(b) from the dates January 1, 2018 to the present.
Your request as stated does not constitute a proper FOIA request. Under the FOIA and the Commission's regulations, a request for access to records must reasonably describe the records being requested. See 5 U.S.C.. § 552(a)(3)(A); 16 C.F.R. § 1015.3(b). Determining whether a request meets this requirement hinges upon the ability of an agency's staff to reasonably ascertain exactly which records are being requested and to locate them. Requests which are so overly broad, sweeping and lacking in specificity are not reasonably described.
That said, I encourage you to contact me to discuss whether you are able to more clearly describe the records you seek, and to discuss ways you might consider narrowing your request to more manageable proportions.
If I do not hear from you by December 21, 2018 via email or phone to discuss the scope of your request, we will administratively close it on the grounds that it is an improperly submitted request. You can reach me at my contact information provided below. If you call and cannot reach me, please leave a message with your current contact information so I have a way to call you back.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Robert J. Dalton
Attorney Advisor
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
4330 East West Highway
Bethesda, MD 20814
301-504-7246
rdalton@cpsc.gov<mailto:rdalton@cpsc.gov>
*****!!! Unless otherwise stated, any views or opinions expressed in this e-mail (and any attachments) are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Copies of product recall and product safety information can be sent to you automatically via Internet e-mail, as they are released by CPSC. To subscribe or unsubscribe to this service go to the following web page: http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Newsroom/Subscribe *****!!!
*****!!!
Unless otherwise stated, any views or opinions expressed in this
e-mail (and any attachments) are solely those of the author and do
not necessarily represent those of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety
Commission.
Copies of product recall and product safety information can be sent
to you automatically via Internet e-mail, as they are released by
CPSC. To subscribe or unsubscribe to this service go to the following
web page: http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Newsroom/Subscribe
*****!!!
From: Consumer Products Safety Commission
Dear Mr. Gottinger,
We have not received clarification regarding your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, number 19-F00078 (see clarification request below). Please reply with clarification by COB December 31, 2018, or your request will be closed as no reply. If you do not reply with clarification by the deadline provided in this email and your request is closed, you are always welcome to submit a new FOIA request. For more information on how to submit FOIA requests with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), please visit our FOIA webpage at https://www.cpsc.gov/Newsroom/FOIA. Thank you.
Robert J. Dalton
Attorney Advisor
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
4330 East West Highway
Bethesda, MD 20814
301-504-7246
rdalton@cpsc.gov<mailto:rdalton@cpsc.gov>
*****!!! Unless otherwise stated, any views or opinions expressed in this e-mail (and any attachments) are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Copies of product recall and product safety information can be sent to you automatically via Internet e-mail, as they are released by CPSC. To subscribe or unsubscribe to this service go to the following web page: http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Newsroom/Subscribe *****!!!
From: Consumer Products Safety Commission
Dear Mr. Gottinger,
Pursuant to the Agency's communications to you below, this is notification that we are administratively closing FOIA Request No. 19-F-00078, as we have not received any response from you narrowing or clarifying the request. You are always welcome, however, to submit a new FOIA request. For more information on how to submit FOIA requests with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), please visit our FOIA webpage at https://www.cpsc.gov/Newsroom/FOIA.
Thank you.
Robert J. Dalton
Attorney Advisor
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
4330 East West Highway
Bethesda, MD 20814
301-504-7246
rdalton@cpsc.gov<mailto:rdalton@cpsc.gov>
*****!!! Unless otherwise stated, any views or opinions expressed in this e-mail (and any attachments) are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Copies of product recall and product safety information can be sent to you automatically via Internet e-mail, as they are released by CPSC. To subscribe or unsubscribe to this service go to the following web page: http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Newsroom/Subscribe *****!!!
From: Consumer Products Safety Commission
An acknowledgement letter, stating the request is being processed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on Dec. 6, 2018. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #19-F-00115.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Consumer Products Safety Commission
Dear Mr. Gottinger,
Your FOIA request that was originally filed on December 6, 2018 was assigned case number 19-F-00078. On December 12, 2018, I contacted you informing you that your request as stated was not reasonably described and, therefore, did not constitute a proper FOIA request. I asked you to contact me by December 21, 2018 to discuss clarifying your request narrowing the request to manageable proportions. Not having heard from you, I emailed you again on December 21, notifying you that if I did not hear from you by December 31, your request would be administratively closed for no reply. It was ultimately closed on January 30, 2019 on that basis.
While 19-F-00078 had been pending, you filed a second, similar FOIA request with our office on January 12, 2019. This request, assigned case number 19-F-00115, sought:
All communications between CPSC and manufacturers or private labelers seeking to withhold information from release in accordance with the Commission's authority under 15 U.S.C. §
2055(b) between the dates December 1, 2108 and January 1, 2019.
On February 12, I emailed you notifying you that this request also was not reasonably described. Therefore, it too did not constitute a proper FOIA request. I asked you to contact me about 19-F-00115 by February 22 to discuss clarifying and narrowing it to manageable proportions. Still not having heard from you, I emailed you again on February 26, providing you time until March 4 to reply. You were notified on March 5 that your request was being administratively closed in light of your non-response to my communications.
Please be advised that you may appeal the closure of your FOIA requests – 19-F-00078 and 19-F-00115.
Right to appeal. You may appeal the denial of your FOIA requests. If you are not satisfied with the response to this request, you may administratively appeal in writing, addressed to FOIA APPEAL, Office of the General Counsel, ATTN: Division of the Secretariat, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 4330 East West Highway, Room 820 Bethesda, MD 20814-4408. Your appeal must be postmarked or electronically transmitted (cpscfoiarequests@cpsc.gov<mailto:cpscfoiarequests@cpsc.gov>) within 90 days of the date of the response to your request. Our office is providing you 90 days from today’s date, when you first received this appeal notice. You can also fax your appeal to 301-504-0127. You can contact us Monday – Friday from 8:00AM – 4:30PM EST by telephone at 1-800-638-2772, by fax to 301-504-0127.
Before filing a formal appeal with the Commission, you may contact me or the Commission’s FOIA Public Liaison, Deborah Acosta (dacosta@cpsc.gov<mailto:dacosta@cpsc.gov>) at 1-800-638-2772 for further assistance or to discuss any aspect of your request. Assistance may include guidance on possible reformulation of a new request or an alternative time frame for processing the request.
Right to Mediation. Additionally, you may contact the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) at the National Archives and Records Administration to inquire about the FOIA mediation services they offer. The contact information for OGIS is as follows: Office of Government Information Services, National Archives and Records Administration, 8601 Adelphi Road-OGIS, College Park, Maryland 20740-6001; e-mail at ogis@nara.gov<mailto:ogis@nara.gov>; telephone at 202-741-5770; toll free at 1-877-684-6448; or facsimile to 202-741-5769.
Thank you,
Robert J. Dalton
Attorney Advisor
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
4330 East West Highway
Bethesda, MD 20814
301-504-7246
rdalton@cpsc.gov<mailto:rdalton@cpsc.gov>
*****!!! Unless otherwise stated, any views or opinions expressed in this e-mail (and any attachments) are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Copies of product recall and product safety information can be sent to you automatically via Internet e-mail, as they are released by CPSC. To subscribe or unsubscribe to this service go to the following web page: http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Newsroom/Subscribe *****!!!
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