the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965, 20 U.S.C. 951 et seq. The Foundation is composed of the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute of Museum Services, and the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. The Institute of Museum Services became a part of the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities pursuant to Pub. L. 97-394 (December 30, 1982) and Pub. L. 98306 (May 31, 1984). Each Endowment is headed by a Chairman and has an advisory national council composed of 26 presidential appointees. The Institute of Museum Services is headed by a Director and has a National Museum Services Board composed of 15 presidential appointees. The Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities, comprised of Executive branch officials and appointees of the legislative branch, is authorized to make agreements to indemnify against loss or damage for certain exhibitions and advise on arts and humanities matters.

§ 1100.3 Availability of information to the public.

(a) All inquiries, or requests should be addressed to the appropriate agency. Descriptive brochures of the organization, programs, and function of each agency are available upon request. Inquiries involving work of the National Endowment for the Arts should be addressed to the National Endowment for the Arts, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20506. The telephone number of the National Endowment for the Arts is (202) 682-5400. Requests or inquiries involving the National Endowment for the Humanities should be addressed to the National Endowment for the Humanities, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20506. The telephone number of the National Endowment for the Humanities is (202) 7860310. Requests or inquiries involving the Institute of Museum Services should be addressed to the Institute of Museum Services, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20506. The telephone number of the Institute of Museum Services is (202) 7860536.

(b) The head of each agency is responsible for the effective administration of the Freedom of Information Act. The head of each agency pursuant to this responsibility hereby directs that every effort be expended to facilitate service to the public with respect to the obtaining of information and records.

(c) Requests for access to records of the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, or the Institute of Museum Services may be filed by mail with the General Counsel of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Deputy Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, or the Public Af fairs Officer of the Institute of Museum Services, as is appropriate. Requests for access to records of the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities should be directed to the attention of the National Endowment for the Humanities. All requests should reasonably describe the record or records sought. Requests submitted should be clearly identified as being made pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act.

§ 1100.4 Current index.

Each agency shall maintain and make available for public inspection and copying a current index providing identifying information for the public as to any matter which is issued, adopted, or promulgated and which is required to be made available pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552(a) (1) and (2). Publication and distribution of such indices has been determined by the Foundation to be unnecessary and impracticable. The indices will be provided upon request at a cost not to exceed the direct cost of the duplication.

§ 1100.5 Agency procedures for handling requests for documents.

(a) Upon receiving a request for documents in accordance with the rules of this part, the General Counsel of the National Endowment for the Arts, Deputy Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, or the Public Affairs Officer of the Institute of Museum Services, as is appropriate, shall determine whether or not the re

quest shall be granted in whole or in part.

(1) The determination shall be made within ten (10) days (excepting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays) after receipt of such request.

(2) The requestor shall be notified of the determination and the reasons that support it. When a request is denied in whole or in part, the requestor, will be notified of his or her rights to appeal the determination to the head of the agency.

(b)(1) Any party whose request for documents has been denied in whole or in part may file an appeal no later than ten (10) working days following receipt of the notification of denial. Appeals must be addressed to the Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, DC 20506, the Chairman, National Endowment for the Humanities, Washington, DC 20506, or the Director Institute of Museum Services, Washington, DC 20506, as is appropriate.

(2) The head of the agency or his delegatee shall make a determination with respect to the appeal within twenty (20) days (excepting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays) after the agency has received the appeal, except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section. If, on appeal, the denial is upheld either in whole or in part, the head of the agency shall notify the party submitting the appeal of the judicial review provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(4)(B).

(c) In unusual circumstances, the time limits prescribed to determine a request for documents with respect to initial actions or actions on appeal may be extended by written notice from the General Counsel of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Deputy Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, or the Public Affairs Officer of the Institute of Museum Services as is appropriate. The notice shall describe the reason for the extension and the date on which the determination is expected to be made. No notice shall specify a date that would result in an extension of more than ten (10) days (excepting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays). As is used in this paragraph, "unusual circumstances" means:

(1) The need to search for and collect the requested records from field facilities or other establishments that are separate from the office processing the request;

(2) The need to search for, collect, and appropriately examine a volumious amount of separate and distinct records which are demanded in a single request; or

(3) The need for consultation, which shall be conducted with all practicable speed, with another agency having a substantial interest in the determination of the request or among two or more components of the agency having a substantial subject-matter interest in the request.

8 1100.6 Fees.

(a) Categories of fees. Fees will be charged according to the Category of the FOIA request.

(1) Commercial use requests. The agency will assess charges to recover the full direct cost of searching for, reviewing, and duplicating the requested document. The agency may recover the cost of searching for and reviewing records even if there is ultimately no disclosure.

(2) Requests from educational and non-commercial scientific institutions. The agency will charge for duplication costs. To qualify for this category the requestor must show: (i) That requested records

are

being

sought under the auspices of a qualified institution as defined in § 1100.1 (e) or (f) of this part; (ii) the records are not sought for commercial use; and (iii) the records are being sought in furtherance of scholarly or scientific research of the institution.

(3) Requests by representatives of the news media. The agency will charge duplication costs for the requests in this category.

(4) All other requests. All other requests shall be charged fees which, recover the full reasonable cost for searching for and duplicating the requested records.

(b) General fee schedule. The agency shall use the most efficient and least costly method to comply with requests for documents made under the FOIA. The agency will charge fees to recover

all allowable direct costs incurred. The agency may charge fees for searching for and reviewing requested documents even if the documents are determined to be exempt from disclosure or cannot be located. If search charges are likely to exceed $25, the agency shall notify the requestor, unless the requestor has indicated in advance the willingness to pay higher fees. The following fees shall be charged in accordance with paragraph (a) of this section.

(1) Searches-(i) Manual. The fee charged will be the salary rate(s) (i.e., basic pay plus 16.1 percent) of the employee(s) conducting the search.

(ii) Computer. The fee charged will be the actual direct cost of providing the service including the cost of operating the central processing unit for the operating time that is directly attributed to searching for records responsive to a request and the operator/programmer salary apportionable to the search.

(2) Review. The fee charged will equal the salary rate(s) (basic pay plus 16.1 percent) of the employee(s) conducting the review.

(3) Duplication. Copies of documents photocopied on one-side of a 81⁄2 x 11 inch sheet of paper will be provided at $.10 per page. Photocopies on two sides of a single 81⁄2 x 11 inch sheet of paper will be provided at $.20 per page. For duplication of other materials, the charge will be the direct cost of duplication.

(c) Restrictions on charging fees. (1) Except for documents provided in response to a commercial use request, the first 100 pages of duplication or the first two (2) hours of search time shall be provided at no charge. For the purposes of this section, two (2) hours of search time by computer entitles the requestor to two (2) hours of computer operator salary translated into computer search costs. Computer search costs consist of operator salary plus central proceeding unit operating time costs for the duration of the search.

(2) Fees shall not be charged to any requestor, including commercial use requestors, if the cost of collecting a fee would be equal to or greater than the fee itself.

(d) Waiver or reduction of fees. (1) Documents shall be furnished without charge or at reduced charge if disclosure of the information is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the government and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requestor.

(2) The following factors shall be used to determine whether a fee will be waived or reduced:

(i) The subject of the request. Whether the subject of the requested records concerns "the operations or activities of the government";

(ii) The informative value of the information to be disclosed. Whether the disclosure is "likely to contribute" to an understanding of government operations or activities;

(iii) The contribution to an understanding of the subject by the general public likely to result from disclosure. Whether disclosure of the requested information will contribute to "public understanding";

(iv) The significance of the contribution to public understanding. Whether disclosure is likely to contribute "significantly" to public understanding of government operations or activities;

(v) The existence and magnitude of a commercial interest. Whether the requestor has a commercial interest that would be furthered by the disclosure; and if so

(vi) The primary interest in disclosure. Whether the magnitude of the identified commercial interest of the requestor is sufficiently large in comparison with the public interest in disclosure, that disclosure is "primarily in the commercial interest of the requester."

(e) Assessment and collection of fees. (1) Interest will accrue from the date the bill is mailed if the fee is not paid within thirty (30) days. Interest will be assessed at the rate prescribed in 31 U.S.C. 3717.

(2) If the agency reasonably believes that a requestor(s) is making multiple requests to avoid the assessment of fees, the agency may aggregate such requests and charge accordingly.

(3) The agency may request an advance payment of the fee if

(i) The allowable charges are likely to exceed $250; or

(ii) The requestor has failed previously to pay a fee in a timely fashion.

(4) When the agency requests an advance payment, the time limits prescribed in section (a)(6) of the Freedom of Information Act will begin only after the agency has received full payment.

§ 1100.7 Foundation report of actions.

On or before March 1 of each calendar year, each member agency of the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities shall submit a report of its activities with regard to public information requests during the preceding calendar year to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and to the President of the Senate. The report shall include:

(a) The number of determinations made by each member agency of the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities not to comply with requests for records made to the agency under the provisions of this part and the reasons for each such determination;

(b) The number of appeals made by persons under such provision, the result of such appeals, and the reasons for the action upon each appeal that results in the denial of information;

(c) The names and titles or positions of each person responsible for the denial of records requested under the provisions of this part and the number of instances of participation for each; (d) The results of each proceeding conducted pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(4)(F), as amended, including a report of the disciplinary action taken against the officer of employee who was primarily responsible for improperly withholding records or an explanation of why disciplinary action was not taken;

(e) A copy of every rule made by the Foundation implementing the provisions of the FOIA.

(f) A copy of the fee schedule and the total amount of fees collected by the agency for making records available under this section; and

§ 1105.735-1 Purpose.

While confident of the integrity and sense of responsibility of the employees of the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, it is essential to the Government and to the conduct of the business of the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities that unusually high standards of honesty, integrity, impartiality, and conduct be maintained by employees of the Endowments. In accordance with these concepts, this part sets forth policies and procedures of the Endowments with respect to employee conduct, certain permissible and prohibited outside activities, and possible conflictsof-interest situations.

§ 1105.735-2 Scope.

The policies and procedures contained in this part apply to all employees of the Endowments, except that specific provision is made in § 1105.735-6-(b) for the filing of Statements of Employment and Financial Interests by special Government employees.

§ 1105.735-3 Definitions.

(a) "Employee" means an officer or employee of the National Endowment

for the Arts or the National Endowment for the Humanities or a member of the shared staff of both Endowments. The term "employee" includes both a "regular employee" (as defined in this section) and a "special Government employee" unless expressly qualified.

(b) "Regular employee" means a person holding an appointment in the competitive or excepted service, occupying a position on the staff of either Endowment or the shared staff of both Endowments, without regard to assigned working schedule (that is, including full-time, part-time and intermittent schedules), but excluding all "special Government employees" who have not been designated as "regular employees" by the Chairman of either Endowment for purposes of these regulations.

(c) "Full-time employee" means a "regular employee" with an assigned full-time working schedule.

(d) "Part-time employee" means a "regular employee" with an assigned part-time (less than 40 hours a week) work schedule.

(e) "Intermittent employee” means a "regular employee" with an assigned intermittent working schedule.

(f) "Shared staff" and "joint employees" mean employees performing services for both Endowments on a shared basis.

(g) "Special Government employee" means a "special Government employee" as defined in section 202 of title 18 of the United States Code who is employed by the National Endowment for the Arts or the National Endowment for the Humanities, or by both Endowments jointly.

(h) "Endowment" means either the National Endowment for the Arts or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

(i) "Foundation" means the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities.

(j) "Chairman" means the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, or the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

(Sec. 10, 79 Stat. 852 as amended 82 Stat. 186, 84 Stat. 443 (20 U.S.C. 959))

[38 FR 3511, Feb. 7, 1973]

§ 1105.735-4 Statutory provisions.

Each employee is responsible for acquainting himself not only with the provisions of this part, but also with applicable portions of each Federal statute relating to his conduct as an employee of the National Endowment for the Arts or the National Endowment for the Humanities and of the U.S. Government. This part will be called to the attention of all employees by the Administrative Officer of the Foundation at least once a year and he will provide a copy of the part to each new employee who joins either the National Endowment for the Arts or the National Endowment for the Humanities or becomes a member of the shared staff. (A list of pertinent statutes is provided in the Appendix to this part.)

§ 1105.735-5 Conflicts-of-Interest Counsel

or.

(a) Conflicts-of-Interest Counselor. The General Counsel of the Foundation is designated the Conflicts-of-Interest Counselor, with responsibility for providing, on request from any employee, counsel regarding conflicts-ofinterest regulations and requirements, as well as their applicability in particular situations. Each employee is responsible for seeking the advice of the Conflicts-of-Interest Counselor whenever it appears that he may be, or may become, involved in a possible conflicts-of-interest situation. Any supervisor may refer to the Conflicts-of-Interest Counselor any possible conflicts-of-interest situation involving a subordinate of his whenever he deems such action appropriate. In such cases, the subordinate concerned shall be informed that the matter has been referred for consideration and shall be afforded the opportunity to state his case. The General Counsel of the Foundation is responsible for reviewing conflicts-of-interest matters brought to his attention and for attempting to work with the employees concerned in resolving such situations, and for offering employees an opportunity to explain any conflict or appearance of conflict. Matters which cannot be satisfactorily resolved in this manner will be referred to the