Request for information: sample and step-by-step instructions on how to correctly write an official document to obtain information

Massive number of requests for documentation

The right to send requests extends from the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation to the control departments of the executive branch (Rospotrebnadzor, Roszdravnadzor, etc.). All requests may be related to the investigation of a criminal case or the verification of an allegation of a crime (pre-investigation check).

The massive nature of sending requests is due to the preparation and receipt of a large amount of information, which can subsequently become evidence in a criminal case.

Therefore, when you receive a request, do not rush to answer, but first you need to give the request a legal assessment, and our specialists will help you find out whether such a request is justified.

How to Write a Request Letter

Like any other type of business letter, this request does not have a unified form and can be compiled in a completely arbitrary form. However, we should not forget that the letter of request refers to official business correspondence, therefore, in order to issue it, it is necessary to comply with certain rules and regulations regarding corporate ethics and office work.

First of all, you should indicate the addressee , i.e. the name of the sending company (with address and telephone number for communication), as well as the name of the recipient . If necessary, you need to enter a specific employee (his position and full name).
Then comes the main part, which concerns the request itself. Here, in a respectful, correct form, you should express the essence of the request and indicate the reason for the request (“in connection with receipt”, “based on the results”, “to resolve the issue”, based on negotiations”, etc.).

If the request concerns several topics at once, then it should be divided into paragraphs or sections. It should be remembered that the unspoken rules of business correspondence indicate that the response to such messages should also be divided into paragraphs.

If a request requires a response within a certain period or by a specific date , this should be politely but firmly indicated in the text of the message.
If necessary, you can insert into the text references to laws, regulations and legal acts related to the essence of the letter. In addition, any additional documents substantiating it may be attached to the request, and information about them must also be included in the main part of the message.
The letter must be signed indicating the position and full name of the originator, and also stamped (provided that the organization uses stamps and seals to certify documentation).

Legal nature of the request for documentation

A request for information and documents is a law enforcement act. And when sending such a request, law enforcement officers must use their powers within the framework of federal law:

Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation - clause 4, part 1, art. 13 of the Federal Law “On Police”;
FSB of the Russian Federation - paragraph “m” of Art. 13 of the Federal Law “On the Federal Security Service”;
Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation - clause 1, part 3, art. 7 of the Federal Law “On the Investigative Committee”;
Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation - Part 1 of Art. 22 of the Federal Law “On the Prosecutor’s Office”.

The main thing is that the request for information must be legal and justified:

Legality means that the requirement to provide documentation must be based on the law;
Justification - indicates specific circumstances that prove that the inspection is carried out for a comprehensive and complete investigation of a criminal case or inspection.

If one of the factors is missing, the request may be ignored. But in practice, there is no motivation for the requirements, which indicates abuse of official powers, which leads to a “nightmarish” business.

Request letter for reconciliation report

This request is made to determine if certain payments are in arrears or overpayments. It is sent to the head of the relevant organization, drawn up on company letterhead in accordance with the general procedure for office work.

LLC "Milky Way" 116890, Moscow, st. Zabelina, 18, office 2 INN 098543905 Tel., fax to the Head of the Department of Rosprirodnadzor for the Eastern Federal District, Artem Viktorovich Stankevich

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05/13/2017, ref. No. 156/59

Request for a reconciliation report

Please provide a reconciliation report for the calculation of fees for negative environmental impact.

The following documents are attached to the request (see list).

General Director of Milky Way LLC /Konstantinov/ O.K. Konstantinov

The most common request options

4.1. Sent before the initiation of a criminal case by OEBiPK and operational units of the FSB of the Russian Federation

Such requests are the majority, and this is the most convenient way to “extract” as much information as possible.

Legality:

employees of the above structures must indicate their right on the basis of which they use their powers - clause 4, part 1, art. 13 of the Federal Law “On Police” or paragraph “m” of Art. 13 of the Federal Law “On the Federal Security Service”.

4.2. Sent after the initiation of a criminal case by investigative units

They have more effective ways of obtaining information (searches or seizures). Such a request must also be verified.

Legality:

in practice, only Part 4 of Art. is indicated. 21 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, which is not a justification.

Validity:

it is also necessary to justify the requirement, as in the first option, namely, the number and date of initiation of the criminal case, the facts on which the employees are investigating and how the requested information is related to the subject of the criminal case.

4.3. Sent as part of a prosecutor's audit

Prosecutor's office employees also identify the extent to which a particular company operates within the framework of the law, without setting itself the goal of bringing an entrepreneur or businessman to criminal liability. But if violations are revealed during the inspection, the materials will be sent to law enforcement agencies, and the police will decide whether to initiate a criminal case.

The prosecutor's office is more careful in drawing up such requests and they do not pose criminal legal risks for the company.

Legality:

As a rule, the legal justification is contained in the request and on what facts this check is carried out.

Validity:

as a rule, information is not provided on how the requested documents can contribute to the verification.

The response to the request must also be sent with a request to provide justification for your requirements.

Result:

Unfortunately, the “security officials” take advantage of the illiteracy of “Business” and do not formalize requests in the proper form, but it is necessary to remember about administrative liability in case of failure to provide information.

Repeated request for information

Ref. No. ________ dated “___” ___________ 201__

To the Administration / City Hall of the city________________ Address: _______________________ _____________________________ from _______________________________, (indicate the full name of the citizen) residing at the address: _____________________________ (indicate the postal address to which the response should be sent)

REPEATED REQUEST

about providing information

Based on Art. 24, 33 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and Art. 32 of the Federal Law of 06.10.2003 No. 131 “On the general principles of the organization of local self-government in the Russian Federation,” I again ask you to provide information about the ownership of an apartment building, privatized in accordance with Appendix No. 3 of the Resolution of the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation of December 27, 1991 No. 3020–1.

In my request dated “__” ____________ 20__, No. ________, I asked to provide an extract from the property register of the city ____________ for an apartment building located at __________________________________ ____________________ _______________________________ _________________, as an object of real estate, and not for the common property of the house.

In the response from “____” _____________________ 20______ No. __________ to my request, you answer that real estate - the common property of an apartment building is not subject to registration in the register, which is obvious, and refer to a number of residential and non-residential premises registered in the register as property G.________________________. (Another response from the administration)

However, you did not provide documents confirming this fact, which is not a comprehensive, objective and appropriate answer.

In this regard, I again appeal to you with a request to provide information about the owner (an extract from the register of municipal property, including information about the house: year of construction, number of storeys, area, registration number of the house, indication of the document - the basis (acceptance and transfer act) in part transfer of objects from the state housing stock to municipal ownership (property of the city _______________),) the property is an apartment building located at the address: ___________________________________________________________________________________ and to the land plot on which it is located, since in my certificate of registration of the right to residential premises dated “___” _________________ _______________ year No. ____________ the information contained in the column “Object of right” “common shared ownership of common property” is missing.

Please provide your answer in accordance with the requirements of Articles 8 and 10 of the Federal Law of May 2, 2006 No. 59-FZ “On the procedure for considering appeals from citizens of the Russian Federation.”

Please take into account that a written appeal containing issues the solution of which is not within the competence of the state body, local government body or official, is sent within seven days from the date of registration to the relevant body or the relevant official, whose competence includes the decision of the issues raised in addressing questions, with notification to the citizen who sent the appeal that the appeal has been forwarded.

In case of refusal to provide information, I warn you about criminal (Articles 136, 140 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and administrative liability (Articles 2.4, 5.39, 5.59, 5.63 of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses) for failure to provide documents and information related to ensuring my constitutional rights.

Signature (with full name decrypted)

A comment

This request (Document 4) is a logical continuation of the history of the previous request. If the administration does not provide an answer or gives an incorrect answer consisting of references to various regulations, send a second request.

It's about the same thing, just worded a little differently.

If there is still no response, it is necessary to send all correspondence to the prosecutor’s office with a request for assistance in carrying out a legal appeal.

Recommendations from experts

Currently, judicial practice indicates both that entrepreneurs are held accountable and that requests sent by government employees. structures are illegal.

Therefore, first you need to know that they can be held accountable only if the request is legal and justified, as well as with the specified details of government bodies.

Having carefully studied this or that request, it is necessary to prepare a detailed response indicating violations exactly within the specified period from the date of receipt.

And if, nevertheless, the request is legal and justified, then it is necessary to submit the requested documentation within the specified period, unless the information contains a secret protected by law.

When should you give an official response to an appeal or letter?

Business letters can be sent for a variety of reasons, including as a sales pitch, warranty, supporting documentation, and more.

An official response is required by correspondence that contains incentive elements and/or implies the presence of a direct response from the addressee as the second party to the process.

You need to respond to letters of the following nature:

appeal;
request or demand;
request;
order;
claim;
proposal (commercial proposal, offer).

Less often, response documents are drawn up for proposals for cooperation, invitations, letters of application, congratulations (and other non-work letters that are part of corporate and business etiquette).

An official response should always refer to the original source - the letter that came to the organization. Unique details must be indicated (serial number, its name, date of creation and date of receipt by the addressee). These links must be written in the body of the answer - in its main part or lead paragraph.

When writing an official response, the author must analyze all the circumstances of the correspondence, use all the techniques of corporate and business thank-you receptions, correctly format responses for the response - an impersonal form, address the other party by position, full name.

The letter can also be addressed to several persons, for example, a group of investors, shareholders, co-owners.

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How to transfer?

Depending on the importance of the issue discussed in the letter, the manager, his deputy, an employee of the office, accounting department, and even the personnel department can send answers. The terms of formation are strictly regulated.

In initial letters with requests, orders or requests, the addressee must indicate the date or exact period when the response must be returned to the sender. This period rarely exceeds 7-8 business days.

Invitations, condolences, congratulations and other letters based on the rules of etiquette do not require urgent responses. If the other party must respond with consent or refusal to an invitation to an event, then the response must be sent no later than a week before the planned event (otherwise it will be difficult to create a guest list and properly organize the reception).

A universal rule is that the style of the official response must coincide with that in the original letter. The content (the main part) must correspond to the purpose and form of the original message.

Regardless of who draws up the text of the letter on paper or electronically, the formulation of the main idea in the content must be approved by the manager.

Letters are allowed to be generated based on samples, if in the end the document complies with GOST R 7.0.97-2016. Samples can be downloaded from many online sources, obtained from large databases, or independently generated local templates at an enterprise or in a structural unit.

When composing the main text, it is recommended to use standard phrases: “In response to your request..”, “Based on your request...”, “According to your request...”, “Thank you for the offer...”, “We confirm...” and many others.

How to apply - basic details

GOST R 7.0.97-2016 contains 30 details that are used to draw up business letters, however, the standard is advisory in nature and does not apply to non-work messages (congratulations, condolences, thanks - they can be compiled in free form).

The answer can be drawn up on a blank A4 sheet or on corporate letterhead, the use of which is regulated by the organization’s charter. Elements of corporate style (logos, emblems), if developed, must be present in the form.

Mandatory details, without which sending is difficult, are:

name of the sender's organization;
its legal and actual addresses;
activity codes;
number and title of the original letter;
date of registration of the letter;
information about the addressee;
signature and seal of the organization;
information about the artist.

If executed electronically, some details (optional) are allowed to be omitted.

The position of the details on the sheet is also established by GOST R 7.0.97-2016 and is subject to the following rules:

the address is indicated in the center;
information about the recipient - at the top of the sheet on the right;
The document number is in the upper left corner.

After sending the response, the addressee must assign a number to it and enter it in the journal of outgoing documentation. In turn, the recipient must also register the letter as incoming correspondence.

Afterwards, according to the standard procedure, the letters are sorted by an authorized person. Information and advertising are analyzed and stored for a certain period (usually no more than one month), and important ones are sent for review to the head of the organization.

Examples of an official response:
to a request for information;
to a letter of complaint;
to the invitation.

Request letter for confirmation of information

Such a request must contain detailed information about the applicant with justification of his right to confirmation of the necessary information. The request should be formulated correctly and unambiguously. It is necessary to indicate the address for providing a response (postal and/or electronic).

OJSC "Invest-profi" 167890, Moscow, st. Zavodskaya, 89, office 1 INN 4536573895 Tel., fax To LLC "Irinarh" 167030, Moscow, per. Lyalin, 14

05/15/2017, ref. No. 15/1

On confirmation of occupation of the position of Deputy Head of the Statistics Department

Please confirm information about whether Lyudmila Aleksandrovna Lyustrenko held the position of deputy head of the statistics department at the limited liability company “Irinarh” from February 2021 to March 2021.

Head of the HR Department of Invest-profi LLC /Kovalchuk/ V.L.Kovalchuk

In business document flow, a letter of request is quite common. It is drawn up in cases where one person wishes to receive certain information from another person. A sample, ready-made examples and recommendations for writing it are given in the article.

Response time

Regardless of which sample is used, the time frame for responding to a request is determined based on the traditions of business ethics. Since this issue is not regulated in any way by law, companies themselves have the right to decide how much time they will need to respond. Usually the period is 10-15 working days.

If this time inevitably increases (for example, to obtain the necessary information you will need to make requests that will also take time), it is advisable to notify the sender about this. They compose a response message in which they indicate that the letter has been accepted for work and indicate the approximate time frame for the response.

In some cases, response times are regulated by law or internal company regulations. For example, government agencies and banking organizations generally must provide responses within 30 calendar days.

Video commentary on general recommendations for writing business letters:

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We all have to conduct business correspondence from time to time. And we are not just talking about professional activities.

Competently formulating questions to your property management or insurance company or city administration is a skill that will be useful to almost any person.

In this article we will look at the main questions that arise when drawing up a request for information. We’ll also show you how to correctly compose such a document and show you an example request.

Dear readers! Our articles talk about typical ways to resolve legal issues, but each case is unique.

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