[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 43, Volume 1]
[Revised as of October 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 43CFR2.13]

[Page 9-10]
 
                    TITLE 43--PUBLIC LANDS: INTERIOR
 
PART 2--RECORDS AND TESTIMONY; FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT--Table of Contents
 
                     Subpart B--Requests for Records
 
Sec. 2.13  Records available.

    (a) Department policy. It is the policy of the Department of the 
Interior to make the records of the Department available to the public 
to the greatest extent possible, in keeping with the spirit of the 
Freedom of Information Act.
    (b) Statutory disclosure requirement. The Act requires that the 
Department, on a request from a member of the public submitted in 
accordance with the procedures in this subpart, make requested records 
available for inspection and copying.
    (c) Statutory exemptions. Exempted from the Act's statutory 
disclosure requirement are matters that are:
    (1)(i) Specifically authorized under criteria established by an 
Executive order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or 
foreign policy and
    (ii) Are in fact properly classified pursuant to such Executive 
order;
    (2) Related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of 
an agency;
    (3) Specifically exempted from disclosure by statute (other than the 
Privacy Act), provided that such statute--
    (i) Requires that the matters be withheld from the public in such a 
manner

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as to leave no discretion on the issue, or
    (ii) Establishes particular criteria for withholding or refers to 
particular types of matters to be withheld;
    (4) Trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained 
from a person and privileged or confidential;
    (5) Inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or letters which would 
not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation 
with the agency;
    (6) Personnel and medical files and similar files the disclosure of 
which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal 
privacy;
    (7) Records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes, 
but only to the extent that the production of such law enforcement 
records or information--
    (i) Could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement 
proceedings,
    (ii) Would deprive a person of a right to a fair or an impartial 
adjudication,
    (iii) Could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted 
invasion of personal privacy,
    (iv) Could reasonably be expected to disclose the identity of a 
confidential source, including a State, local, or foreign agency or 
authority or any private institution which furnished information on a 
confidential basis, and, in the case of a record or information compiled 
by a criminal law enforcement authority in the course of a criminal 
investigation, or by an agency conducting a lawful national security 
intelligence investigtion, information furnished by a confidential 
source,
    (v) Would disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement 
investigations or prosecutions or would disclose guidelines for law 
enforcement investigations or prosecutions if such disclosure could 
reasonably be expected to risk circumvention of the law, or
    (vi) Could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical 
safety of any individual;
    (8) Contained in or related to examination, operating, or condition 
reports prepared by, on behalf of, or for the use of an agency 
responsible for the regulation or supervision of financial institutions; 
or
    (9) Geological and geophysical information and data, including maps, 
concerning wells.
    (d) Decisions on requests. It is the policy of the Department to 
withhold information falling within an exemption only if--
    (1) Disclosure is prohibited by statute or Executive order or
    (2) Sound grounds exist for invocation of the exemption.
    (e) Disclosure of reasonably segregable nonexempt material. If a 
requested record contains material covered by an exemption and material 
that is not exempt, and it is determined under the procedures in this 
subpart to withhold the exempt material, any reasonably segregable 
nonexempt material shall be separated from the exempt material and 
released.