[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 11, Volume 1]

[Revised as of January 1, 2006]

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]