[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 9]
[Revised as of July 1, 2005]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR2203.3]

[Page 305-306]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
      CHAPTER XX--OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH REVIEW COMMISSION
 
PART 2203_REGULATIONS IMPLEMENTING THE GOVERNMENT IN THE SUNSHINE ACT
--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 2203.3  Public attendance at Commission meetings.

    (a) Policy. Commissioners will not jointly conduct or dispose of 
official Commission business in a meeting unless it is conducted in 
accordance with this part. Because the Commission was created for the 
purpose of adjudicating litigated cases, it can be expected that most of 
its meetings will be closed to the public. However, meetings that do not 
involve Commission adjudication or discussion of issues in cases before 
it will be open to the extent practicable. The public will not be 
allowed to participate in discussions during open meetings.
    (b) Grounds for closing meetings. Except where the Commission finds 
that the public interest requires otherwise, all or part of a meeting 
may be closed to the public, and information about a meeting may be 
withheld from the public, where the Commission determines that the 
meeting, or part of the meeting, or information about the meeting, is 
likely to:
    (1) Disclose matters that are:
    (i) Specifically authorized under criteria established by an 
Executive order to be kept secret in the interests of national defense 
or foreign policy and
    (ii) In fact properly classified pursuant to such Executive order;
    (2) Relate solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of 
the Commission;
    (3) Disclose matters specifically exempted from disclosure by 
statute (other than section 552 of title 5), Provided, That such statute
    (i) Requires that the matter 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 trade secrets and commercial or financial information 
obtained from a person are privileged or confidential;
    (5) Involve accusing any person of a crime, or formally censuring 
any person;
    (6) Disclose information of a personal nature where 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 such records or 
information would:
    (i) Interfere with enforcement proceedings,
    (ii) Deprive a person of a right to a fair trail 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

[[Page 306]]

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:
    (i) Be likely to (A) lead to significant financial speculation in 
currencies, securities, or commodities, or (B) significantly endanger 
the stability of any financial institution, or
    (ii) Be likely to significantly frustrate implementation of a 
proposed Commission action, except where the Commission has already 
disclosed to the public the content or nature of its proposed action, or 
where the Commission is required by law to make such disclosure on its 
own initiative prior to taking final agency action on such proposal; or
    (10) Specifically concern the Commission's issuance of a subpoena or 
the Commission's participation in a civil action or proceeding, an 
action in a foreign court or international tribunal, or an arbitration, 
or the initiation, conduct, discussion or disposition by the Commission 
of a particular case of formal Commission adjudication.
    (c) Regularly-scheduled meetings. The Commission will hold 
regularly-scheduled meetings for the purpose of considering matters that 
may properly be closed to the public under paragraph (b)(4), (8), (9)(i) 
or (10) of this section, or any combination thereof. Primarily, these 
meetings will be held for the purpose of considering or disposing of 
particular cases of formal Commission adjudication. The Commission 
therefore expects to close all regularly-scheduled meetings. The 
procedures established in Sec. 2203.4 apply to the public announcement 
and closing of regularly-scheduled meetings.
    (d) Other Commission meetings. All other meetings of the Commission 
will be open to public observation unless the Commission determines that 
all or part of a meeting is likely to disclose information of the kind 
set forth in any subparagraph of paragraph (b) of this section. The 
procedures established in Sec. 2203.5 apply to the public announcement 
of Commission meetings that are not regularly scheduled and to the total 
or partial closing of these meetings.

[50 FR 51679, Dec. 19, 1985, as amended at 62 FR 35963, July 3, 1997]