Commission pursuant to statutory time limitations.

§ 504.8 Appeals from denial of request for amendment to records.

(a) An individual whose request to amendment of a record pertaining to him is denied, may further request a review of such determination in accordance with paragraph (b) of this section.

(b) Not later than 30 days (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal public holidays) from the date on which the individual requests such review, the Chairman of the Commission or an officer designated by the Chairman to act in his absence shall complete such review and make a final determination unless, for good cause shown, the Chairman of the Commission or an officer designated by the Chairman to act in his absence extends such 30-day period.

(c) Such request shall be addressed to the Chairman, Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, 1111 20th Street, NW., Washington, D.C. 20579, and shall specify the reasons for which the refusal to amend is challenged.

(d) Upon appeal from a denial to amend a record, the Chairman of the Commission or the officer designated by the Chairman to act in his absence, shall make a determination whether or not to amend the record and shall notify the individual of that determination by certified mail return receipt requested not later than 30 days (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays) after receipt of such appeal, unless extended pursuant to paragraph (g) of this section.

(e) The Chairman or the officer designated by the Chairman to act in his absence shall also notify the individual of the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552a(g)(1)(A) regarding judicial review of the Chairman's or the officer's determination.

(f) If on appeal the refusal to amend the record is upheld, the Commission shall permit the individual to file a statement setting forth the reasons for his disagreement with the Chairman's or the officer's determination.

(g) The Chairman or the officer acting in his absence may extend up to 30 days the time prescribed in para

graph (d) of this section within which to make a determination on an appeal from refusal to amend a record for the reason that a fair and equitable review cannot be completed within the prescribed period.

§ 504.9 Fees.

(a) Fees to be charged, if any, to any individual for making copies of such individual's record, excluding the cost of any search for and review of the record will be as follows:

(1) Photocopy reproductions, each copy $0.05.

(2) Where the Commission undertakes to perform for a requestor for any other person services which are very clearly not required to be performed under the Privacy Act, either voluntarily or because such services are required by some other law, the question of charging fees for such services will be determined by the official or designee authorized to release the information, under the Federal user charge statute 31 U.S.C. 483a, any other applicable law, and the provisions of § 503.14 of Part 503 of the Commission's regulations.

§ 504.10 Exemptions.

No system of records maintained by the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission are exempt from the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552a as permitted under certain conditions by 5 U.S.C. 552a (j) and (k). However the Chairman of the Commission reserves the right to promulgate rules in accordance with the requirements of 5 U.S.C. 553(b) (1), (2) and (3), (c) and (e) to exempt any system of records maintained by the Commission in accordance with the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552a(k).

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(a) The Commission shall publish in the FEDERAL REGISTER at least annually a notice of the existence and character of the system or systems of records which it maintains. Such notice shall include:

(1) The name and location of the system;

(2) The categories of individuals on whom records are maintained in the system;

(3) The categories of records maintained in the system;

(4) Each routine use of the records contained in the system including the categories of users and the purpose of each use;

(5) The policies and practices of the Commission regarding storage, retrievability, access controls, retention, and disposal of the records;

(6) The title and business address of the agency official who is responsible for the system of records;

(7) Commission procedures whereby an individual can be notified if the system of records contains a record pertaining to him.

(8) Commission procedures whereby an individual can be notified at his request how he can gain access to any record pertaining to him contained in the systems of records, and how he can contest its contents, and

(9) The categories of sources of records in the system.

Subpart B-Government in the
Sunshine Regulations

AUTHORITY: 5 U.S.C. 552b.

SOURCE: 42 FR 11010, Feb. 25, 1977, unless otherwise noted.

§ 504.20 Definitions.

For purposes of this part:

(a) The term "agency" means any agency, as defined in 5 U.S.C. 552b(e), which includes the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, headed by a

collegial body composed of two or more individual members, a majority of whom are appointed by the PresiIdent with the advice and consent of the Senate, and any subdivision thereof authorized to act on behalf of the agency;

(b) The term "Commission" means the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, which is a collegial body that functions as a unit composed of three individual members, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate;

(c) The term "member" means any one of the three members of the Commission;

(d) The term "meeting" means the deliberations of at least two (quorum) members of the Commission where such deliberations determine or result in joint conduct or disposition of official Commission business;

(e) The terms "closed meeting" and "closed portion of a meeting" mean, respectively, a meeting or that part of a meeting designated as provided in § 504.26 as closed to the public by reason of one or more of the closure provisions listed in § 504.24;

(f) The term "open" meeting means a meeting or portion of a meeting which is not a closed meeting or a closed portion of a meeting; and

(g) The term "public observation" means the right of any member of the public to attend and observe, but not participate or interfere in any way in an open meeting of the Commission within the limits of reasonable and comfortable accommodations made available for such purpose by the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission.

§ 504.21 Notice of public observation.

(a) A member of the public is not required to give advance notice to the Commission of an intention to exercise the right of public observation of an open meeting of the Commission. However, in order to permit the Commission to determine the amount of space and number of seats which must be made available to accommodate individuals who desire to exercise the right of public observation, such individuals are requested to give notice to the Commission at least two business

days before the start of the open meeting of the intention to exercise such right.

(b) Notice of intention to exercise the right of public observation may be given in writing, in person, or by telephone to the official designated in § 504.29.

(c) Individuals who have not given advance notice of intention to exercise the right of public observation will not be permitted to attend and observe the open meeting of the Commission if the available space and seating are necessary to accommodate indivdiuals who gave advance notice of such intention to the Commission.

§ 504.22 Scope of application.

The provisions of this Part 504, §§ 504.20 through 504.29, apply to meetings of the Commission, and do not apply to conferences or other gatherings of employees of the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission who meet or join with others, except at meetings of the Commission to deliberate on or conduct official agency business.

§ 504.23 Open meetings.

Every meeting of the Commission shall be open to public observation except as provided in § 504.24.

§ 504.24 Grounds for closing a meeting.

(a) Except in a case where the Commission determines otherwise, a meeting or portion of a meeting may be closed to public observation where the Commission determines that the meeting or portion of the meeting is likely to:

(1) Disclose matters that are (i) specifically authorized under criteria established by an Executive order to be kept secret in the interests of national defense or foreign policy and (ii) in fact properly classified pursuant to such Executive order;

(2) Relate solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of the Commission;

(3) Disclose matters specifically exempted from disclosure by statute (other than 5 U.S.C. 552) provided that such statute (i) requires that the matters be withheld from the public in such a manner as to leave no discre

tion on the issue, or (ii) establishes particular criteria for withholding or refers to particular types of matters to be withheld;

(4) Disclose trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential;

(5) Involve accusing any person of a crime, or formally censuring any person;

(6) Disclose information of a personal nature where disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;

(7) Disclose investigatory records compiled for law enforcement purposes, or information which if written would be contained in such records, but only to the extent that the production of such records or information would (i) interfere with enforcement proceedings, (ii) deprive a person of a right to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication, (iii) constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, (iv) disclose the identity of a confidential source and, in the case of a record compiled by a criminal law enforcement authority in the course of a criminal investigation, or by an agency conducting a lawful national security intelligence investigation, confidential information furnished only by the confidential source, (v) disclose investigative techniques and procedures, or (vi) endanger the life or physical safety of law enforcement personnel;

(8) Disclose information contained in or related to examination, operating, or condition reports prepared by, on behalf of, or for the use of the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission;

(9) Disclose information the premature disclosure of which would be likely to significantly frustrate implementation of a proposed action of the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, provided the Commission has not already disclosed to the public the content or nature of its proposed action, or is not required by law to make such disclosure on its own initiative prior to taking final action on such proposal; or

(10) Specifically concern the Commission's issuance of a subpoena or the Commission's participation in a civil action or proceeding, an action in

a foreign court or international tribunal, or an arbitration, or the initiation, conduct, or disposition by the Commission of a particular case of formal agency adjudication pursuant to the procedures in section 554, of Title V or otherwise involving a determination on the record after opportunity for a hearing.

(b) If the Commission determines that the public interest would require that a meeting be open, it may nevertheless so hold.

§ 504.25 Announcement of meetings.

(a) The Commission meets beginning at 10:30 a.m. in the offices of the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, 1111 20th Street, NW, Washington, DC, on each Wednesday, unless notice to the contrary is given.

(b) At any duly called meeting held previous to any meeting scheduled as provided in paragraph (a) of this section, the Commission may fix a different time and place for a subsequent meeting.

(c) For any meeting of the Commission which is fixed as provided in (b) of this section, the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission shall, at the earliest practicable time, make information available for public inspection in its offices, or pursuant to telephonic or written requests, concerning the time and place fixed for such subsequent meeting.

(d) At the earliest practicable time, which is estimated to be not later than eight days before the beginning of a meeting of the Commission the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission shall make available for public inspection in its offices, or pursuant to telephonic or written requests, the subject matter of the meeting except to the extent that such information is exempt from disclosure under the provisions of § 504.24.

§ 504.26 Procedures for closing of meetings.

(a) The closing of a meeting shall occur when:

(1) A majority of the membership of the Commission votes to take such action. A separate vote of the Commission members shall be taken with respect to each Commission meeting a

portion or portions of which are proposed to be closed to the public pursuant to § 504.24, or with respect to any information which is proposed to be withheld under § 504.24. A single vote may be taken with respect to a series of meetings, a portion or portions of which are proposed to be closed to the public, or with respect to any information concerning such series of meetings, so long as each meeting in such series involves the same particular matters and is scheduled to be held no more than thirty days after the initial meeting in such series. The vote of each Commission member participating in such vote shall be recorded and no proxies shall be allowed.

(2) Whenever any person whose interests may be directly affected by a portion of a meeting requests that the Commission close such portion to the public for any of the reasons referred to in § 504.24 (e), (f) or (g), the Commission upon request of any one of its Commission members, shall take a recorded vote, whether to close such portion of the meeting.

(b) Within one day of any vote taken, the Commission shall make publicly available a written copy of such vote reflecting the vote of each member on the question and full written explanation of its action closing the entire or portion of the meeting together with a list of all persons expected to attend the meeting and their affiliation.

(c) The Commission shall announce the time, place and subject matter of the meeting at least 8 days before the meeting.

(d) For every closed meeting, before such meeting is closed, the General Counsel of the Commission shall publicly certify that, in his or her opinion, the meeting may be closed to the public, and shall state each relevant closure provision. A copy of such certification, together with a statement from the presiding officer of the meeting setting forth the time and place of the meeting, and the persons present, shall be retained by the Commission.

§ 504.27 Reconsideration of opening or

closing, or rescheduling a meeting.

The time or place of a Commission meeting may be changed following the public announcement only if the Commission publicly announces such change at the earliest practicable time. The subject matter of a meeting, or the determination of the Commission to open or close a meeting, or portion of a meeting, to the public, may be changed following the public announcement only if a majority of the Commission members determines by a recorded vote that Commission business so requires and that no earlier announcement of the change was possible, and the Commission publicly announces such change and the vote of each member upon such change at the earliest practicable time.

§ 504.28 Record of closed meetings or closed portion of a meeting.

(a) The Foreign Claims Settlement Commission shall maintain a complete transcript or electronic recording adequate to record fully the proceedings of each closed meeting or closed portion of a meeting, except that in the case of a meeting or portion of a meeting closed to the public pursuant to § 504.24 (d), (h), or (j), the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission shall maintain either such transcript, recording, or a detailed set of minutes.

(b) Any minutes so maintained shall fully and clearly describe all matters discussed and shall provide a full and accurate summary of any actions taken, and the reasons therefor, including a description of each of the views expressed on any item and the record of any rollcall vote. All documents considered in connection with any action shall be identified in the minutes.

available to the public, in its offices, the transcript, electronic recording, or minutes, of the discussion of any item on the agenda of a closed meeting, or closed portion of a meeting, except for such item or items of discussion which the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission determines to contain information which may be withheld under § 504.24. Copies of such transcript or minutes, or a transcription of such recording disclosing the identity of each speaker, shall be furnished to any person at the actual cost of duplication or transcription.

(d) The Foreign Claims Settlement Commission shall maintain a complete verbatim copy of the transcript, a complete copy of the minutes, or a complete electronic recording of each closed meeting or closed portion of a meeting for a period of two years after the date of such closed meeting or closed portion of a meeting.

(e) All actions required or permitted by this section to be undertaken by the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission shall be by or under the authority of the Chairman, Foreign Claims Settlement Commission.

§ 504.29 Requests for information.

Requests to the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission for information about the time, place, and subject matter of a meeting, whether it or any portion thereof is closed to the public, and any requests for copies of the transcript or minutes or of a transcript of an electronic recording of a closed meeting, or closed portion of a meeting, to the extent not exempt from disclosure by the provisions of § 504.24, shall be addressed to the Executive Director, Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, 1111 20th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20579, telephone 202/ 653-6156.