New Edition of DOJ Guide to the FOIA Continues its Roll Out

On the first day of Sunshine Week 2013, OIP announced the posting of the first chapter of the new edition of the Department of Justice Guide to the Freedom of Information Act.  Serving as a comprehensive legal treatise on the FOIA, each chapter contains a detailed analysis of the key judicial opinions issued on the FOIA alongside relevant guidance from OIP.  The Guide is a unique FOIA resource relied on by both agency personnel and the public for understanding the legal framework for the administration of the FOIA. A distinct feature of the new edition of the Guide is the transition from a paper publication to an online resource.  This new process has allowed OIP to post new chapters online on a rolling basis as they are finalized instead, of waiting for the entire publication to be completed.  This ongoing publication process has allowed OIP to post the following chapters since March:

• President Obama’s FOIA Memorandum and Attorney General Holder’s FOIA Guidelines,
• Procedural Requirements,
• Fees and Fee Waivers,
• Exemption 1,
• Exemption 2,
• Exemption 3,
• Exemption 5,
• Exemption 7(D),
• Exemption 7(E),
• Exemption 7(F),
• Exclusions, and
• Attorney Fees

As noted in the Department’s Open Government Plan version 2.0, another unique feature of publishing the Guide as an online resource is the ability to make updates to each chapter as significant new developments occur.  Last week, OIP’s subject matter experts updated the Procedural Requirements chapter of the Guide with new information from a FOIA court case decided only a few weeks ago.  By having the Guide exist as a “living document,” OIP can continue to update chapters on a rolling basis instead of waiting to complete a new edition every few years. We are continuing our work on the remaining chapters of the Guide and will post them on our website as they become available.  Until all chapters of the new edition are posted, the 2009 edition of the Guide will remain available on OIP’s website before moving to the archive section of our site.  Be sure to follow FOIA Post and OIP’s Twitter account, @FOIAPost, for announcements on when new chapters have been posted.