[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 40, Volume 28]
[Revised as of July 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 40CFR710.38]

[Page 39-40]
 
                   TITLE 40--PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT
 
         CHAPTER I--ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED)
 
PART 710--TSCA CHEMICAL INVENTORY REGULATIONS--Table of Contents
 
               Subpart B--2002 Inventory Update Reporting
 
Sec. 710.38  Confidentiality.

    (a) Any person submitting information under this part may assert a 
business confidentiality claim for the information. The procedures for 
asserting confidentiality claims are described in the instruction 
booklet identified in Sec. 710.39. Information claimed as confidential 
in accordance with this section and those instructions will be treated 
and disclosed in accordance with the procedures in part 2 of this 
chapter.
    (b) A person may assert a claim of confidentiality for the chemical 
identity of a specific chemical substance only if the identity of that 
substance is treated as confidential in the Master Inventory File as of 
the time the report is submitted for that substance under this part.
    (c) To assert a claim of confidentiality for the chemical identity 
of a specific chemical substance, the person must take the following 
steps:
    (1) The person must submit with the report detailed written answers 
to the following questions signed and dated by an authorized official.
    (i) What harmful effects to your competitive position, if any, do 
you think would result from the identity of the chemical substance being 
disclosed in connection with reporting under this part? How could a 
competitor use such information? Would the effects of disclosure be 
substantial? What is the causal relationship between the disclosure and 
the harmful effects?
    (ii) How long should confidential treatment be given? Until a 
specific date, the occurrence of a specific event, or permanently? Why?
    (iii) Has the chemical substance been patented? If so, have you 
granted licenses to others with respect to the patent as it applies to 
the chemical substance? If the chemical substance has been patented and 
therefore disclosed through the patent, why should it be treated as 
confidential?

[[Page 40]]

    (iv) Has the identity of the chemical substance been kept 
confidential to the extent that your competitors do not know it is being 
manufactured or imported for a commercial purpose by anyone?
    (v) Is the fact that the chemical substance is being manufactured or 
imported for a commercial purpose available to the public, for example 
in technical journals, libraries, or State, local, or Federal agency 
public files?
    (vi) What measures have you taken to prevent undesired disclosure of 
the fact that this chemical substance is being manufactured or imported 
for a commercial purpose?
    (vii) To what extent has the fact that this chemical substance is 
manufactured or imported for commercial purposes been revealed to 
others? What precautions have been taken regarding these disclosures? 
Have there been public disclosures or disclosures to competitors?
    (viii) Does this particular chemical substance leave the site of 
manufacture in any form, as product, effluent, emission, etc.? If so, 
what measures have you taken to guard against discovery of its identity?
    (ix) If the chemical substance leaves the site in a product that is 
available to the public or your competitors, can the substance be 
identified by analysis of the product?
    (x) For what purpose do you manufacture or import the substance?
    (xi) Has EPA, another Federal agency, or any Federal court made any 
pertinent confidentiality determinations regarding this chemical 
substance? If so, please attach copies of such determinations.
    (2) If any of the information contained in the answers to the 
questions is asserted to contain confidential business information, the 
person must mark that information as ``trade secret,'' ``confidential,'' 
or other appropriate designation.
    (d) If no claim of confidentiality accompanies information at the 
time it is submitted to EPA under this part or if substantiation 
required under paragraph (c) of this section is not submitted with the 
reporting form, EPA may make the information available to the public 
without further notice to the submitter.

[51 FR 21447, June 12, 1986, as amended at 55 FR 39588, Sept. 27, 1990; 
60 FR 31921, June 19, 1995]