A federal law that provides for public access to US government records (5 U.S.C. § 552 (2016)). FOIA applies to most federal agencies. It does not apply to:

To obtain information under FOIA, an individual or organization makes a request (known as a FOIA request) to the FOIA office of the specific federal agency. A FOIA request must:

Federal agencies are required to supply the requested agency records, unless the information falls within one of the nine exemptions from disclosure. For more information, seePractice Note, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA): Overview and Practice Note, FOIA Exemptions: Overview. After the federal agency responds to a FOIA request, an individual or organization can file an administrative appeal challenging the FOIA response (for example, asserting that the federal agency improperly withheld all documents). A lawsuit may be filed in federal court challenging the agency's decision making at the administrative level as to both the production (or failure to produce) of documents and the exemptions applied to withhold information within the documents.