[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 24, Volume 1]

[Revised as of April 1, 2006]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 24CFR15.108]



[Page 182-183]

 

                 TITLE 24--HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

 

PART 15_PUBLIC ACCESS TO HUD RECORDS UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 

AND TESTIMONY AND PRODUCTION OF INFORMATION BY HUD EMPLOYEES--Table of 

Contents

 

                Subpart B_FOIA Disclosure of Information

 

Sec.  15.108  What are HUD's policies concerning designating confidential 

commercial or financial information under Exemption 4 of the FOIA and 

responding to requests for business information?



    (a) HUD's general policy concerning business information which may 

be considered as confidential commercial or financial information. 

Except as provided in this section or otherwise required by law, HUD 

officers and employees may not disclose business information which is 

considered as confidential commercial or financial information to anyone 

other than to HUD officers or employees who are properly entitled to the 

information to perform their official duties.

    (b) How does a submitter make a claim that business information is 

confidential commercial or financial information? (1) If you are a 

submitter, you may request



[[Page 183]]



confidential treatment of business information at the time the 

information is submitted to HUD or within a reasonable time after it is 

submitted.

    (2) To obtain a designation of confidentiality, you must:

    (i) Support your request with an authorized statement or a 

certification giving the facts and the legal justification for your 

request and stating that the information has not been made public; and

    (ii) Clearly designate the information that you consider 

confidential.

    (3) Your designation of confidentiality will expire 10 years after 

the date the information was submitted to HUD, unless you have provided 

a reasonable explanation for a later expiration date.

    (c) How will HUD respond to a request for business information? If 

the information requested has been designated in good faith by the 

submitter as information to be protected under 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4) 

(``Exemption 4'') or if HUD has reason to believe that the information 

may be protected by Exemption 4, HUD shall:

    (1) Unless an exception in paragraph (c)(2) of this section applies, 

promptly notify the submitter about the request or the administrative 

appeal and give the submitter 10 working days to submit a written 

objection to disclosure. HUD will describe the requested business 

information or will provide copies of all or a portion of the records;

    (2) If any of the following circumstances apply, HUD will not notify 

the submitter:

    (i) HUD determines that the information should not be disclosed;

    (ii) The information has been published lawfully or has been made 

available officially to the public;

    (3) A law other than FOIA requires HUD to disclose the information;

    (4) A HUD regulation requires HUD to disclose the information. The 

regulation must:

    (i) Have been adopted pursuant to notice and public comment; and

    (ii) Specify narrow classes of records submitted to HUD that are to 

be released under the FOIA.

    (d) Notice to requester. At the same time HUD notifies the 

submitter, HUD will also notify the requester that the request is 

subject to the provisions of this section and that the submitter is 

being afforded an opportunity to object to disclosure of the 

information.

    (e) Opportunity to object to disclosure. If the submitter timely 

objects to disclosure, HUD will consider the submitter's objections, but 

will not be bound by them. HUD generally will not consider conclusory 

statements that particular information would be useful to competitors or 

would impair sales, or other similar statements, sufficient to justify 

confidential treatment. Information provided by a submitter or its 

designee may itself be subject to disclosure under the FOIA.

    (f) Notice of intent to disclose. If after considering the 

submitter's objections, HUD decides to disclose business information 

over the objection of a submitter, HUD will send a written notice of 

intent to disclose to both the submitter and the requester. HUD will 

send these notices at least 10 working days before the specified 

disclosure date. The notices will include:

    (1) A statement of the reasons why HUD rejected the submitter's 

disclosure objections;

    (2) A description of the business information to be disclosed; and

    (3) A disclosure date.

    (g) What other policies apply to a submitter?--(1) HUD notice of 

FOIA lawsuit. HUD will promptly notify the submitter of any suit to 

compel HUD to disclose business information.

    (2) Determination of confidentiality. HUD will not determine the 

validity of any request for confidentiality until HUD receives a request 

for disclosure of the information.

    (3) Current mailing address for the submitter. Each submitter must 

give HUD a mailing address for receipt of any notices under this 

section, and must notify HUD of any change of address.