Freedom of Information Act Procedures

This final rule amends the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (``CBP'') Freedom of Information Act (``FOIA'') regulations. Due to the transfer of CBP from the Department of the Treasury to the Department of Homeland Security (``DHS''), and the subsequent promulgation of DHS FOIA regulations which provide that the DHS FOIA regulations generally apply to all DHS components, most of the CBP FOIA regulations have been functionally superseded. This document sets forth that, with the exception of a regulation pertaining to the treatment of confidential commercial information, CBP will apply the DHS FOIA and Privacy Act regulations for purposes of administering the FOIA. This final rule removes outdated regulations, aligns CBP's regulatory procedures for processing FOIA requests with those of DHS, thereby creating a consistent standard among the DHS components, and brings CBP within compliance of the FOIA guidelines developed by OMB.