Sec. 2370.5. Requests for public access to records

(a) A request for records within the possession of the Department of Taxation and Finance shall be in writing upon a form provided by the department. Such request shall be addressed to the Records Access Officer, Building 9, State Campus, Albany, NY 12227.

(b)

(1) The records access officer may permit individuals to act as agent for or authorized representative of a requester of access to records.

(2) In addition to the written request for access to records, the records access officer may require such agent or authorized representative to complete a written agency form prescribed by the department before acting upon the request.

(3) The form shall contain, among other required information, the name and address of the principal, the name and address of the agent or authorized representative, and shall have attached thereto the principal's power of attorney, permitting such agent or authorized representative to make a request for access to records on the principal's behalf. The agency form, completed in the required manner, shall be filed with the records access officer at the time of making the request for access to the department's records.

(c)

(1) The records access officer shall respond promptly to a request for access to records. Except under extraordinary circumstances, his response to the request shall be made no more than five business days after the day of the receipt of the request.

(2) If under extraordinary circumstances, more than five business days are required to act upon an application for public inspection or copying, the records access officer shall issue an acknowledgment of the receipt of the request within five business days after the request is received. The acknowledgment shall include a brief explanation of the reason for delay and an estimate of the date that the production or denial of the request will be forthcoming. Extraordinary circumstances shall include, but are not limited to, those circumstances where (i) there is a reasonable lack of certainty concerning whether or not the record is available for access to the public or the record contains identifying details or particulars which are required to be deleted to prevent any possible unwarranted invasion of privacy as provided by section 2370.5(d) of this Part, (ii) where the request for records is so voluminous that the application for access to such records cannot reasonably be processed within a five-business-day period, or (iii) where the requested record is believed to be a protected trade secret as provided by section 2370.7 of this Part.

(3) If access to records is neither granted nor denied within 10 business days after the date of acknowledgment of receipt of a request for access to records, the request shall be deemed denied; such denial may be appealed.

(4) So that the department personnel can locate records within a reasonable time, a request for access to records shall be sufficiently detailed to identify the records and shall include the article and section of the Tax Law to which the requested record relates. In addition, if pertinent to the request, the requester shall include descriptive words and dates or other information which will help to identify the record or records.

(5) No records may be removed by the requester from the office where the record is located.

(6) Upon failure to locate records, the records access officer shall inform the requester that:

(i) The department is not the legal custodian for the requested records.

(ii) The requested records for which the department is the legal custodian cannot be found after a search for such records has been conducted with due diligence.

(7) The public access officer may upon request certify that a transcript is a true copy of the record copied.

(d) The records access officer shall delete identifying details or particulars in order to prevent any possible unwarranted invasion of privacy as prescribed by the Freedom of Information Law. He shall be prohibited from disclosing any and all such other details and particulars as prescribed by such law; the Tax Law; any other laws of the State of New York or the United States; or any agreements between the State of New York and another state or the United States, its agencies or instrumentalities.