§ 2–533. Letters of denial.

(a) Denial by a public body of a request for any public record shall contain at least the following:

(1) The specific reasons for the denial, including citations to the particular exemption(s) under § 2-534 relied on as authority for the denial;

(2) The name(s) of the public official(s) or employee(s) responsible for the decision to deny the request; and

(3) Notification to the requester of any administrative or judicial right to appeal under § 2-537.

(b) Each public body of the District of Columbia shall maintain a file of all letters of denial of requests for public records. This file shall be made available to any person on request for purposes of inspection and/or copying.

(Oct. 21, 1968, Pub. L. 90-614, title II, § 203; as added Mar. 29, 1977, D.C. Law 1-96, § 2, 23 DCR 3744; Apr. 27, 2001, D.C. Law 13-283, § 3(c), 48 DCR 1917.)

Prior Codifications

1981 Ed., § 1-1523.

1973 Ed., § 1-1523.

Effect of Amendments

D.C. Law 13-283, in subsec. (a), substituted “a public body” for “the Mayor or an agency”; and, in subsec. (b), substituted “Each public body” for “The Mayor and each agency of the District of Columbia”.

Editor's Notes

The Law Effective Date Notice for D.C. Law 1-96, published on April 8, 1977, was incorrect and was corrected on June 3, 1977, and published at 23 DCR 9532b.