[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 16, Volume 2]
[Revised as of January 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 16CFR1116.9]

[Page 180-181]
 
                     TITLE 16--COMMERCIAL PRACTICES
 
             CHAPTER II--CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION
 
PART 1116--REPORTS SUBMITTED PURSUANT TO SECTION 37 OF THE CONSUMER 
PRODUCT SAFETY ACT--Table of Contents
 
Sec.  1116.9  Confidentiality of reports.

    (a) Pursuant to section 6(e) of the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 
U.S.C. 2055(e)) no member of the Commission, no officer or employee of 
the Commission, and no officer or employee of the Department of Justice 
may publicly disclose information furnished to the Commission under 
section 37(c)(1) and section 37(c)(2)(A) of the Act, except that:
    (1) An authenticated copy of a section 37 report furnished to the 
Commission by or on behalf of a manufacturer may, upon written request, 
be furnished to the manufacturer or its authorized agent after payment 
of the actual or estimated cost of searching the records and furnishing 
such copies; or
    (2) Any information furnished to the Commission under section 37 
shall, upon written request of the Chairman or Ranking Minority Member 
of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate 
or the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives 
or any subcommittee of such committee, be provided to the Chairman or 
Ranking Minority Member for purposes that are related to the 
jurisdiction of such committee or subcommittee.
    (b) The prohibition contained in section 6(e) (15 U.S.C. 2055(e)) 
against the disclosure of information submitted pursuant to section 37 
only applies to the specific items of information that a manufacturer is 
required to submit under section 37(c)(1) and to statements under 
section 37(c)(2)(A) relating to the possibility or existence of an 
appeal of a reported judgment adverse to a manufacturer. Section 6(e)(1) 
does not, by its terms, apply to information that the manufacturer 
voluntarily chooses to submit pursuant to section 37(c)(2)(B). Thus, 
disclosure of such information is governed by the other provisions of 
section 6 of the CPSA (15 U.S.C. 2055) and by the interpretative rules 
issued by the Commission (16 CFR parts 1101 and 1015). For example, if a 
manufacturer includes information otherwise reportable under section 15 
as part of a section 37 report, the Commission will treat the 
information reported pursuant to section 15 as ``additional 
information'' submitted pursuant to section 37(c)(2)(B). Generally, any 
issue of the public disclosure of that information will be controlled by 
the relevant provisions of section 6(b), including section 6(b)(5) 
relating to the disclosure of substantial product hazard reports, and 
section 6(a) relating to the disclosure of confidential or trade secret 
information. However, to the extent the section 15 report reiterates or 
references information reported under

[[Page 181]]

section 37, the confidentiality provisions of section 6(e) still apply 
to the reiteration or reference. In addition, interpretative regulations 
issued under section 6(b) of the Act establish that disclosure of 
certain information may be barred if the disclosure would not be fair in 
the circumstances. 16 CFR 1101.33. Accordingly, issues of releasing 
additional information submitted pursuant to section 37 will also be 
evaluated under the fairness provisions of section 6(b). Should the 
Commission receive a request for such information or contemplate 
disclosure on its own initiative, the manufacturer will be given an 
opportunity to present arguments to the Commission why the information 
should not be disclosed, including, if appropriate, why disclosure of 
the information would be unfair in the circumstances. Among the factors 
the Commission will consider in evaluating the fairness of releasing the 
information are the nature of the information, the fact that it is an 
adjunct to a Congressional protected report, and whether the information 
in question supports the conclusion that a section 37 or 15(b), CPSA, 
report should have been filed earlier.
    (c) Section 6(e) imposes no confidentiality requirements on 
information obtained by the Commission independently of a report 
pursuant to section 37. The provisions of section 6(b) govern the 
disclosure of such information.