[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 40, Volume 30]
[Revised as of July 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 40CFR1517.4]

[Page 782-783]
 
                   TITLE 40--PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT
 
               CHAPTER V--COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
 
PART 1517_PUBLIC MEETING PROCEDURES OF THE COUNCIL ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 1517.4  Exceptions.

    (a) A meeting or portion thereof may be closed to public 
observation, and information pertaining to such meeting or portion 
thereof may be withheld from the public, if the Council determines that 
such meeting or portion thereof or disclosure of such information is 
likely to:
    (1) Disclose matters that are (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) in fact properly 
classified pursuant to that Executive order;
    (2) Relate solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of 
the Council;
    (3) Disclose matters specifically exempted from disclosure by 
statute (other than the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552), 
provided that the statute: (i) Requires that the matters be withheld 
from the public in such a manner 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) Disclose the trade secrets and commercial or financial 
information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential;
    (5) Involve accusing any person of a crime, or formally censuring 
any person;
    (6) Disclose information of a personal nature if disclosure would 
constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;
    (7) Disclose investigatory records compiled for law enforcement 
purposes, or information which if written would be contained in such 
records, but only to the extent that the production of those records or 
information would:

[[Page 783]]

    (i) Interfere with enforcement proceedings,
    (ii) Deprive a person of a right to a fair trial or an impartial 
adjudication,
    (iii) Constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy,
    (iv) Disclose the identity of a confidential source and, in the case 
of a record 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, confidential information 
furnished only by the confidential source,
    (v) Disclose investigative techniques and procedures, or,
    (vi) Endanger the life or physical safety of law enforcement 
personnel;
    (8) Disclose information 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;
    (9) Disclose information the premature disclosure of which would be 
likely to significantly frustrate implementation of a proposed action of 
the Council. This exception shall not apply in any instance where the 
Council has already disclosed to the public the content or nature of the 
proposed action, or where the Council is required by law to make such 
disclosure on its own initiative prior to taking final action on the 
proposal; or
    (10) Specifically concern the issuance of a subpoena by the Council, 
or the participation of the Council in a civil action or proceeding, an 
action in a foreign court or international tribunal, or an arbitration, 
or the initiation, conduct, or disposition by the Council of a 
particular case of formal adjudication pursuant to the procedures in 5 
U.S.C. 554 or otherwise involving a determination on the record after 
opportunity for a hearing.
    (b) Before a meeting is closed to public observation the Council 
shall determine whether or not the public interest requires that the 
meeting be open. The Council may open a meeting to public observation 
which could be closed under paragraph (a) of this section, if the 
Council finds it to be in the public interest to do so.