Section 1620.120  Response to Requests for Records

a)         The Freedom of Information Officer shall respond to a written request for a copy of, or for an opportunity to inspect, public records within 5 business days after receipt of the request except that a response to a request for a commercial purpose or a response to a recurrent requestor may take up to 21 days as permitted by, and in accordance with, Section 3.1 or 3.2 of FOIA, respectively.

b)         If, for one or more reasons provided in Section 3(e) of FOIA, the Freedom of Information Officer cannot comply with or deny the request within 5 business days, the Freedom of Information Officer shall have an additional 5 business days in which to respond.  Within the initial 5-day period, the Freedom of Information Officer shall give the requestor written notice of the extension of time to respond or of the treatment as a voluminous request pursuant to Section 3.6 of FOIA.  The notice shall set forth the reasons for the extension or treatment.

c)         When a request for a copy of public records has been granted, the FOI Officer may notify the requestor that the requested copies will be made available upon payment of fees as provided in Section 6 of FOIA.

d)         A denial of a request for public records shall be made in writing and shall state the reasons for the denial, including a detailed factual basis for the application of any exemption claimed, and the names and titles or positions of individuals responsible for the decision. The notice of denial shall also inform the requestor of the right to review by the Public Access Counselor established in the Office of the Attorney General and the requestor's right to judicial review under Section 11 of FOIA.

e)         Failure to respond to a written request within the applicable time limits described in subsections (a) and (b) may be considered by the requestor as a denial of the request.

f)         Pursuant to Section 8.5 of FOIA, the Commission is not required to provide copies of records available on its website when it directs the requestor to the website where the records are available and can reasonably be accessed.

(Source:  Amended at 42 Ill. Reg. 13550, effective June 26, 2018)