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Securities and Exchange Commission
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Email: | foiapa@sec.gov |
Fax: | 202-772-9336 ; or |
Mail: | SEC Office of FOIA and Privacy Act Operations 100 F Street, NE Room 5100 Washington, DC 20549 |
Response times range from 1 day to 1096 days with an average response time of 346 days.
Many requests received by the SEC are for investigatory records, consumer complaints, and nonpublic correspondence. Some of these requests are denied because the records relate to on-going investigations (Exemption 7(A)), personal privacy (Exemptions 6 and 7(C)), and intra and inter-agency records (Exemption 5).
List of Exemption 3 statutes relied on by the agency during the current fiscal year:
Statute Code | Court upheld | Concise Description of material withheld |
---|---|---|
15 U.S.C. § 80b-10(b) | N/A | Investment Advisors Examination Records |
A. Number of Initial Requests | ||
1. | Requests pending as of end of preceding FY | 10,403 |
2. | Requests received during current FY | 9,070 |
3. | Requests processed during current FY | 12,564 |
4. | Requests pending as of end of current FY | 6,909 |
B. Disposition of Initial Requests | ||
1. | Number of total grants | 5691 |
2. | Number of partial grants | 187 |
3. | Number of denials | 577 |
Number of times each FOIA exemption used | ||
(b)(1) national security | 0 | |
(b)(2) records related solely to internal rules and practices | 47 | |
(b)(3) law specifically exempts the material from disclosure | 1 | |
(b)(4) trade secrets and other confidential business information | 132 | |
(b)(5) deliberative process privilege, pre-decisional | 46 | |
(b)(6) information about individuals | 70 | |
(b)(7)(A) interference with law enforcement proceedings | 518 | |
(b)(7)(B) a person would be deprived of a fair trial | 0 | |
(b)(7)(C) unwarranted invasion of personal privacy | 34 | |
(b)(7)(D) confidential source | 0 | |
(b)(7)(E) techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations | 0 | |
(b)(7)(F) endangering the safety or life of any individual | 0 | |
(b)(8) examination of banks and other financial institutions | 17 | |
(b)(9) geological and geophysical information | 0 | |
4. | Other reasons for non-disclosure (total) | 6109 |
a. No records found (appeal rights) | 4294 | |
b. Referrals | 766 | |
c. Requests Withdrawn | 985 | |
d. Fee-related issues | 26 | |
e. Records not reasonably described | 4 | |
f. Not a proper FOIA request for some other reason | 4 | |
g. Not an agency record | 3 | |
h. Duplicate request | 23 | |
i. Other: Records Lost or Destroyed | 4 |
A. Number of Appeals | ||
1. | Number of appeals received during FY | 143 |
2. | Number of appeals processed during FY | 207 |
B. Disposition of Appeals | ||
1. | Number completely upheld | 104 |
2. | Number partially reversed | 27 |
3. | Number completely reversed | 29 |
Number of times each FOIA exemption used | ||
(b)(1) | 0 | |
(b)(2) | 2 | |
(b)(3) | 0 | |
(b)(4) | 7 | |
(b)(5) | 6 | |
(b)(6) | 6 | |
(b)(7)(A) | 135 | |
(b)(7)(B) | 0 | |
(b)(7)(C) | 4 | |
(b)(7)(D) | 0 | |
(b)(7)(E) | 0 | |
(b)(7)(F) | 0 | |
(b)(8) | 0 | |
(b)(9) | 0 | |
4. | Other reasons for nondisclosure: | 47 |
a. No records found | 30 | |
b. Referred to the Web | 1 | |
c. Request Withdrawn | 5 | |
d. Fee-related | 4 | |
e. Not an agency record | 1 | |
f. Other: Moot | 6 |
A. Median Processing Time for Requests Processed during the FY | ||
1. | Simple Requests | |
a. Number of requests processed | 9652 | |
b. Median number of days to process | 67 | |
2. | Complex Requests | |
a. Number of requests processed | 2912 | |
b. Median number of days to process | 705 | |
3. | Requests accorded expedited processing | |
a. Number of requests processed | 0 | |
b. Median number of days to process | 0 | |
B. Status of Pending Requests | ||
1. | Number of requests pending as of the end of FY | 6909 |
a. Simple requests | 6297 | |
b. Complex requests | 612 | |
2. | Median number of days simple requests were pending | 365 |
3. | Median number of days complex requests were pending | 671 |
D. Number of requests for expedited treatment received and granted: | 0 |
A. Staffing levels | ||
1. | Number of full-time FOIA personnel | 28.0 |
2. | Number of personnel with part-time or occasional FOIA duties (in total work-years or FTEE) | 3.81 |
3. | Total number of personnel (in total work-years or FTEE) | 31.81 |
B. Total costs (including staff and all resources) | ||
1. | FOIA processing (including appeals) | 3,509,418 |
2. | Litigation-related activities | 275,921 |
3. | Total costs | 3,785,339 |
A. Total amount of fees collected by agency for processing requests | 140,106 |
B. Percentage of total costs | 3.70 |
The SEC FOIA regulations, 17 CFR § 200.80, are posted to the Commission website: http://www.sec.gov/foia.shtml.
The Agency Improvement Plan, as revised on October 13, 2006, has been modified to reflect a change in the designation of Chief FOIA Officer. The new Chief FOIA Officer is Kristin J. Kaepplein, Director, SEC Office of Investor Education and Advocacy.
During FY 07, the Commission continued to focus on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the FOIA process. The performance measurements in this annual report reflect tangible results of ongoing business process improvements and staff commitment to the original improvement areas identified: backlog reduction, proactive disclosure and improved internal resources.
The Commission has exceeded all goals and milestones established in the Program Action Plan dated October 13, 2006 for backlog reduction. The backlog reduction which took place in FY 07 encompassed the largest SEC prior fiscal year backlog (FY 03 – 06) totaling 10,403 requests. In addition, 9,070 new requests were received for a total of 19,473 requests. The Commission completed 12,564 FOIA requests or 64.5% of the total workload for FY 07. The number of requests pending at the end of FY 07 (6909) is the lowest pending workload for the past four fiscal years. All backlogged requests from FY 03 and 04 were completed; the FY 05 backlog was 99% completed; and the FY 06 backlog was 76% complete as of September 30, 2007. The Commission has substantially completed the goal of its FY 07/08 program to eliminate the FY 03-06 backlog. The FOIA Office is on track to eliminate the remaining FY 05 and FY06 backlog in FY 08.
The Commission’s program of electronic dissemination of filing-related correspondence has increased the volume of information publicly available. The Commission posted correspondence related to 4,428 filings during FY 07. The effect of this proactive disclosure is measured by the increased number of FOIA requests citing a disposition wherein the requestor is referred to the SEC Public EDGAR website to view the requested records. (See item V.B.4. of this report). Referrals to the public website reported for FY 05 were 225, for FY 06 were 472, and for FY 07 were 766. New requests for this type of record in FY 07 were significantly reduced.
The Commission improved the use of available internal resources. Electronic FOIA tracking software enables monitoring and analysis of the type of requests received and the effectiveness of the business process in responding to them. We have identified and implemented improvements which minimize response time where responsive records are quickly located, allowing more resources for complex requests. The Commission’s FY 07 cost to process FOIA requests was lower than prior years, however, productivity improved. In FY 05, 205 requests were processed per capita; in FY 06, 207 requests were processed per capita; and in FY 07, 395 requests were processed per capita. Staff productivity improved by almost 91% in FY 07.
Finally, the Commission contacted frequent requestors to better understand their FOIA needs and discuss means of providing faster and more useful responses. As a result, most requestors improved the terms and scope of their future requests, while others reviewed their backlog and withdrew hundreds of requests for records they no longer required.
The nine exemptions to the FOIA authorize federal agencies to withhold information covering: (1) classified national defense and foreign relations information; (2) internal agency rules and practices; (3) information that is prohibited from disclosure by another federal law; (4) trade secrets and other confidential business information; (5) inter-agency or intra-agency communications that are protected by legal privileges; (6) information involving matters of personal privacy; (7) records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes, to the extent that the production of those records (A) could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings, (B) would deprive a person of a right to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication, (C) could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, (D) could reasonably be expected to disclose the identity of a confidential source, (E) would disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions, or would disclose guidelines for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions, or (F) could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual; (8) information relating to the supervision of financial institutions; and (9) geological information on wells.
1. Ten Oldest Pending FOIA Requests as of January 1, 2008:
Calendar year | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
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Request Received Dates | Nov 2 | March 28 August 1 August 3 Sept 14 Oct 3 Oct 3 Oct 4 Oct 4 Oct 4 |
2. Consultations:
a) Number of Consultations Received, Processed, and Pending:
Consultations Received From Other Agencies During FY 07 | Consultations Received from Other Agencies That Were Processed by your Agency During FY 07 (includes those received prior to FY 07) | Consultations Received From Other Agencies That Were Pending at Your Agency as of October 1, 2007 (includes those received prior to FY 07) |
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0 | 0 | 0 |
b) Ten Oldest Pending Consultations Received from Other Agencies as of January 1, 2008:
Calendar Year | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Consults Received | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
http://www.sec.gov/foia/foiaactionplan.pdf
http://www.sec.gov/foia/arfoia07.htm
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