FOIL-AO-17737

From:   Mercer, Janet (DOS)
Sent:    Thursday, July 30, 2009 2:24 PM
To:      
Subject:           RE: "open ended" foil request

Dear:

            I have received your email in which you indicated that you received a Freedom of Information Law request from an engineer who wants his request to remain open ended and to supply records when you finally receive them.

       In this regard, it has consistently been advised that an agency is not required to honor an ongoing or prospective request for records.  As you may be aware, the Freedom of Information Law pertains to existing records [see section 89(3)].  Consequently, I do not believe that an agency has the ability or is required to grant or deny access to records that do not yet exist.

            I hope that I have been of assistance.

 

Janet Mercer
Committee on Open Government
One Commerce Plaza
99 Washington Ave., Suite 650
Albany, NY 12231
(518) 474-2518
(518) 474-1927 - Fax
Website:  http://www.dos.ny.gov/coog/coogwww.html