[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 11, Volume 1]
[Revised as of January 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 11CFR4.5]

[Page 16-17]
 
                       TITLE 11--FEDERAL ELECTIONS
 
                 CHAPTER I--FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION
 
PART 4_PUBLIC RECORDS AND THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT--Table of Contents
 
Sec.  4.5  Categories of exemptions.

    (a) No requests under 5 U.S.C. 552 shall be denied release unless 
the record contains, or its disclosure would reveal, matters that are:
    (1) Specifically authorized under criteria established by an 
executive order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or 
foreign policy and are in fact properly classified pursuant to such 
Executive order;
    (2) Related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of 
the Commission;
    (3) Specifically exempted from disclosure by statute, provided that 
such statute (A) requires that the matters be withheld from the public 
in such a manner as to leave no discretion on the issue, or (B) 
establishes particular criteria for withhholding or refers to particular 
types of matters to be withheld;
    (4) Trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained 
from a person which are privileged or confidential. Such information 
includes confidential business information which concerns or relates to 
the trade secrets, processes, operations, style of works, or apparatus, 
or to the production, sales, shipments, purchases, transfers, 
identification of customers, inventories, or amount of source of income, 
profits, losses, or expenditures of any person, firm, partnership, 
corporation, or other organization, if the disclosure is likely to have 
the effect of either impairing the Commission's ability to obtain such 
information as is necessary to perform its statutory functions, or 
causing substantial harm to the competitive position of the person, 
firm, partnership, corporation, or other organization from which the 
information was obtained, unless the Commission is required by law to 
disclose such information. These procedures shall be used for submitting 
business information in confidence:
    (i) A request for confidential treatment shall be addressed to the 
FOIA officer, Federal Election Commission, 999 E Street, NW., 
Washington, DC 20463, and shall indicate clearly on the envelope that it 
is a request for confidential treatment.
    (ii) With each submission of, or offer to submit, business 
information which a submitter desires to be treated as confidential 
under paragraph (a)(4) of this section, the submitter shall provide the 
following, which may be disclosed to the public: (A) A written 
description of the nature of the subject information, and a 
justification for the request for its confidential treatment, and (B) a 
certification in writing under oath that substantially identical 
information is not available to the public.
    (iii) Approval or denial of requests shall be made only by the FOIA 
officer or his or her designees. A denial shall be in writing, shall 
specify the reason therefore, and shall advise the submitter of the 
right to appeal to the Commission.
    (iv) For good cause shown, the Commission may grant an appeal from a 
denial by the FOIA Officer or his or her designee if the appeal is filed 
within fifteen (15) days after receipt of the denial. An appeal shall be 
addressed to the FOIA Officer, Federal Election Commission, 999 E 
Street, NW., Washington, DC 20463 and shall clearly indicate that it is 
a confidential submission appeal. An appeal will be decided within 
twenty (20) days after its receipt (excluding Saturdays, Sundays and 
legal holidays) unless an extension, stated in writing with the reasons 
therefore, has been provided the person making the appeal.
    (v) Any business information submitted in confidence and determined 
to be entitled to confidential treatment shall be maintained in 
confidence by the Commission and not disclosed except as required by 
law. In the event that any business information submitted to the 
Commission is not entitled to confidential treatment, the submitter will 
be permitted to withdraw the tender unless it is the subject of a 
request under the Freedom of Information Act or of judicial discovery 
proceedings.
    (vi) Since enforcement actions under 2 U.S.C. 437g are confidential 
by statute, the procedures outlined in Sec.  4.5(a)(4) (i) thru (v) are 
not applicable.

[[Page 17]]

    (5) Inter-agency or intra-agency memoranda or letters which would 
not be available by law to a party in litigation with the Commission.
    (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 trial 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 investigation, 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.
    (b) Whenever a request is made which involves access to records 
described in 11 CFR 4.5(a)(7): and
    (1) The investigation or proceeding involves a possible violation of 
criminal law; and
    (2) There is reason to believe that--
    (i) The subject of the investigation or proceeding is not aware of 
its pendency, and
    (ii) Disclosure of the existence of the records could reasonably be 
expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings;

The agency may, during only such time as that circumstance continues, 
treat the records as not subject to the requirements of the Freedom of 
Information Act.
    (c) Any reasonably segregable portion of a record shall be provided 
to any person requesting such record after deletion of the portions 
which are exempt. The amount of information deleted shall be indicated 
on the released portion of the record, unless including that indication 
would harm an interest protected by an exemption in paragraph (a) of 
this section under which the deletion is made. If technically feasible, 
the amount of the information deleted shall be indicated at the place in 
the record where such deletion is made.
    (d) If a requested record is one of another government agency or 
deals with subject matter to which a government agency other than the 
Commission has exclusive or primary responsibility, the request for such 
a record shall be promptly referred by the Commission to that agency for 
disposition or guidance as to disposition.
    (e) Nothing in this part authorizes withholding of information or 
limiting the availability of records to the public, except as 
specifically provided in this part; nor is this part authority to 
withhold information from Congress.

[44 FR 33368, June 8, 1979, as amended at 50 FR 50778, Dec. 12, 1985; 52 
FR 23638, June 24, 1987; 52 FR 39212, Oct. 21, 1987; 65 FR 9206, Feb. 
24, 2000]