Washington, D.C. - Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed an administrative appeal of the initial decision of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to withhold more than 1,100 pages of documents related to complaints against Dell.
In July, CREW filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for all complaints sent to the FTC about Dell’s “Next Day Service” plans, and all records of FTC investigations and actions regarding these plans. The FTC produced about 1,000 pages of complaints against Dell, but because its search for records was flawed, most of them do not involve the “Next Day Service” plans.
The FTC also withheld more than 1,100 pages of documents, relying on a statute that exempts from FOIA records received by the FTC in an investigation either through a subpoena or that were provided voluntarily even though they could have been subpoenaed. The FTC has not made clear what these records are and has not demonstrated they fall within the scope of the statute.
The administrative appeal challenges the adequacy of the FTC’s search and its decision to withhold documents.
Separately, CREW filed additional FOIA requests with the FTC last week designed to find both complaints about the “Next Day Service” plans, and all complaints sent to the FTC regarding Dell.