[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 18, Volume 1]
[Revised as of April 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 18CFR3a.13]

[Page 44-45]
 
           TITLE 18--CONSERVATION OF POWER AND WATER RESOURCES
 
  CHAPTER I--FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
 
PART 3a_NATIONAL SECURITY INFORMATION--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 3a.13  Classification responsibility and procedure.

    (a) Each FPC official who has classifying authority (Sec. 3a.12) 
shall be held accountable for the propriety of the classifications 
attributed to him. Unnecessary classification and overclassification 
shall be avoided. Classification shall be solely on the basis of 
national security considerations. In no case shall information be 
classified in order to conceal inefficiency or administrative error, to 
prevent embarrassment to the FPC or any of its officials or employees, 
or to prevent for any other reason the release of information which does 
not require protection in the interest of national security.
    (b) Each classified document shall show on its face its 
classification and whether it is subject to or exempt from the General 
Declassification Schedule (Sec. 3a.22(b)). It also shall show the 
office of origin, the date of preparation and classification and, to the 
extent practicable, be so marked as to indicate which portions are 
classified, at what level, and which portions are not classified in 
order to facilitate excerpting and other use. Material which merely 
contains references to classified materials, which references do not 
reveal classified information, shall not be classified.
    (c) Material classified under this part shall indicate on its face 
the identity of the highest authority authorizing the classification. 
Where the individual who signs or otherwise authenticates a document or 
item has also authorized the classification, no further annotation as to 
his identity is required.

[[Page 45]]

    (d) Classified information or material furnished to the United 
States by a foreign government or international organization shall 
either retain its original classification or be assigned a U.S. 
classification. In either case, the classification shall assure a degree 
of protection equivalent to that required by the government or 
international organization which furnished the information or material.
    (e) Whenever information or material classified by an authorized 
official is incorporated in another document or other material by any 
person other than the classifier, the previously assigned security 
classification category shall be reflected thereon together with the 
identity of the classifier.
    (f) As a holder of classified information or material, the FPC shall 
observe and respect the classification assigned by the originator. If it 
is believed that there is unnecessary classification; that the assigned 
classification is improper, or that the document is subject to 
declassification under E.O. 11652, the FPC will so inform the originator 
who is then required by the Executive order to reexamine the 
classification.

                    Declassification and Downgrading