FOIA Update: Electronic Record Survey Continues

The Office of Information and Privacy's governmentwide survey on the subject of "electronic record" issues under the Freedom of Information Act is continuing through the summer months and, with the cooperation of remaining agency respondents, should be concluded by summer's end.

The OIP survey, commenced in May, is an effort to comprehensively compile information from individual federal departments and agencies as to their positions, practices and concerns regarding the difficult "electronic record" issues that can arise under the FOIA. See FOIA Update, Spring 1989, at 1-2. It seeks the participation of all federal agencies.

While most federal agencies have responded to the survey in a timely fashion, providing valuable information on a range of related concerns, a number of agencies (including several cabinet departments) remain engaged in the process of assembling their responses and have requested that the survey be continued through the end of the summer so that their responses may be included. OIP has agreed to accommodate these requests in order to obtain as comprehensive a compilation of agency responses as is reasonably possible.

Once these final responses are received, OIP intends to compile the survey results for use by any interested party as a firm foundation for the future consideration of "electronic record" issues. Additionally, OIP presently is planning to hold a special governmentwide conference on the subject of "electronic record" issues, at which the results of the survey can be reviewed within the executive branch. Representatives of all interested federal agencies will be invited to attend the conference, which is anticipated to be held sometime during the coming fall, once both a date and location are firmly set.

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