[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 16, Volume 2]
[Revised as of January 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 16CFR1116.9]

[Page 179-180]
 
                     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

[[Page 180]]

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 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.