--- kind: "range" citation: "32 C.F.R. §§ 1662.18–1662.25" title: "32" from: "1662.18" to: "1662.25" count: 8 url: "https://uscodex.org/cfr/32/1662.18..1662.25" --- # §1662.18. The FOIA Exemption 1: National defense and foreign policy. The FOIA exempts from disclosure records that are 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. # §1662.19. The FOIA Exemption 2: Internal personnel rules and practices. The FOIA exempts from disclosure records that are related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an agency. # §1662.20. The FOIA Exemption 3: Records exempted by other statutes. The FOIA exempts from disclosure records if another statute specifically allows or requires the agency to withhold them. The Chief FOIA Officer may use another statute to justify withholding only if it prohibits disclosure; it sets forth criteria to guide the Chief FOIA Officer's decision on releasing; or identifies types of material to be withheld. # §1662.21. The FOIA Exemption 4: Trade secrets and confidential commercial or financial information. The FOIA exempts from disclosure trade secrets as well as commercial or financial information that is obtained from a person that is either privileged or confidential. SSS will allow submitters to designate information as trade secrets and confidential commercial or financial information at the time of submission or within a reasonable time thereafter. Submitters must use good faith efforts to designate, by appropriate markings, any portion of its submission that it considers to be protected from disclosure under the FOIA exemptions. These designations expire ten years after the due date of the submission unless the submitter requests a longer designation period. - (a) **Steps of submitters notice—** - (1) **The submitter's notice.** When trade secrets or confidential commercial or financial information is requested under the FOIA, the Chief FOIA Officer will provide written submitter's notice if they have substantial reason to believe that information in the records could reasonably be considered exempt under the FOIA Exemption 4. The submitter's notice will describe and include a copy of the trade secret, or commercial or financial information requested. In cases involving many submitters, SSS may publish a submitter's notice to inform the submitters of the proposed disclosure instead of sending individual notifications. The submitter's notice requirements of this section do not apply if: - (i) The Chief FOIA Officer determines the information is fully exempt under the FOIA, and therefore will not be disclosed; - (ii) The information has been previously published or made generally available; or - (iii) **Disclosure of the information is required by statute other than the FOIA.** - (2) **Submitter's opportunity to object to disclosure.** - (i) The submitter must respond to the notice within five business days of the Chief FOIA Officer issuing the submitter's notice or the information may be released in accordance with these regulations and the FOIA. A submitter who fails to respond within five business days will be considered to have no objection to the disclosure of the information. The Chief FOIA Officer is not required to consider any information received after the date of any disclosure decision. Any information provided by a submitter under this subpart may itself be subject to disclosure under the FOIA. - (ii) If a submitter objects to disclosure, the submitter should provide the Chief FOIA Officer with a detailed written statement that specifies all grounds for withholding the particular information under any exemption of the FOIA. To rely on Exemption 4 as basis for nondisclosure, the submitter must explain why the information constitutes a trade secret or commercial or financial information that is confidential. - (iii) The Chief FOIA Officer will consider a submitter's timely made objections and specific grounds for nondisclosure in deciding whether to disclose the requested information. - (3) **Notice of intent to disclose.** Whenever the Chief FOIA Officer decides to disclose information over the objection of a submitter, they must provide the following to the submitter: - (i) A Release Over Objection letter explaining the reasons why each of the submitter's disclosure objections did not meet the requirements for withholding under the FOIA; - (ii) A copy of the information as SSS intends to release it; and - (iii) A statement of the Chief FOIA Officer's intent to disclose the information five business days from the date on the Release Over Objection letter unless the submitter files an action in a U.S. District Court to prevent the release. - (b) **Notice of FOIA lawsuit.** When a submitter's notice is issued for a request that is the subject of a lawsuit, the Chief FOIA Officer shall notify the submitter of the lawsuit within the notice. - (c) **Requester notification.** To the extent the Chief FOIA Officer expects substantial delays in the processing of FOIA requests due to the Agency's communications with the submitter, they will notify the requester in writing via email, or when the requester's email is not provided, via U.S. postal mail. # §1662.22. The FOIA Exemption 5: Internal documents. This exemption covers inter-agency or intra-agency government documents that fall within an evidentiary privilege recognized in civil discovery. Such internal government communications include an agency's communications with an outside consultant or other outside person, with a court, or with Congress, when those communications are for a purpose similar to the purpose of privileged intra-agency communications. Some of the most commonly applicable privileges are described in the following paragraphs: - (a) **Deliberative process privilege.** This privilege protects the decision-making processes of government agencies. Information is protected under this privilege if it is pre-decisional and deliberative. The purpose of the privilege is to prevent injury to the quality of the agency decision-making process by encouraging open and frank internal discussions, by avoiding premature disclosure of decisions not yet adopted, and by avoiding the public confusion that might result from disclosing reasons that were not in fact the ultimate grounds for an agency's decision. Purely factual material in a deliberative document is within this privilege only if it is inextricably intertwined with the deliberative portions so that it cannot reasonably be segregated, if it would reveal the nature of the deliberative portions, or if its disclosure would in some other way make possible an intrusion into the decision-making process. The privilege continues to protect pre-decisional documents even after a decision is made; however, the Chief FOIA Officer will release pre-decisional deliberative communications that were created 25 years or more before the date on which the records are requested, unless disclosure is otherwise prohibited by law. - (b) **Attorney work product privilege.** This privilege protects records prepared by or for an attorney in anticipation of or for litigation. It includes documents prepared for purposes of administrative and court proceedings. This privilege extends to information directly prepared by an attorney, as well as materials prepared by non-attorneys working for an attorney. - (c) **Attorney-client communication privilege.** This privilege protects confidential communications between an attorney and the attorney's client where legal advice is sought or provided. # §1662.23. The FOIA Exemption 6: Clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. The FOIA exempts from disclosure records about individuals if disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of their personal privacy. # §1662.24. The FOIA Exemption 7: Law enforcement. The FOIA exempts from disclosure information or records that the government has compiled for law enforcement purposes. The records may apply to actual or potential violations of either criminal or civil laws or regulations. The Agency can withhold these records only to the extent that releasing them would cause harm in at least one of the following situations: - (a) **Enforcement proceedings.** Pursuant to the FOIA Exemption 7(A) ([5 U.S.C. 552(b)(7)(a)](/usc/5/552.md?p=b-7-a)), the Chief FOIA Officer may withhold information whose release could reasonably be expected to interfere with prospective or ongoing law enforcement proceedings. Investigations of fraud and mismanagement, employee misconduct, and civil rights violations may fall into this category. - (b) **Fair trial or impartial adjudication.** Under the FOIA Exemption 7(B) ([5 U.S.C. 552(b)(7)(b)](/usc/5/552.md?p=b-7-b)), the FOIA exempts from disclosure records whose release would deprive a person of a fair trial or an impartial adjudication because of prejudicial publicity. - (c) **Personal privacy.** Under the FOIA Exemption 7(C) ([5 U.S.C. 552(b)(7)(c)](/usc/5/552.md?p=b-7-c)), the FOIA exempts from disclosure personally identifiable information of individuals when the disclosure could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. - (d) **Confidential sources and information.** Pursuant to the FOIA Exemption 7(D) ([5 U.S.C. 552(b)(7)(d)](/usc/5/552.md?p=b-7-d)), the FOIA exempts from disclosure the identity of confidential sources, as well as the records obtained from the confidential sources in criminal investigations or by an agency conducting a lawful national security investigation. A confidential source may be an individual; a state, local, or foreign government agency; or any private organization. The exemption applies whether the source provides information under an express promise of confidentiality or under circumstances from which such an assurance could be reasonably inferred; however, inferred confidentiality is determined in a case-by-case analysis. Also protected from mandatory disclosure is any information which, if disclosed, could reasonably be expected to jeopardize the system of confidentiality that assures a flow of information from sources to investigatory agencies. - (e) **Techniques and procedures.** Under the FOIA Exemption 7(E) ([5 U.S.C. 552(b)(7)(e)](/usc/5/552.md?p=b-7-e)), the FOIA exempts from disclosure records reflecting special techniques or procedures of investigation or prosecution, not otherwise generally known to the public. In some cases, it is not possible to describe even in general terms those techniques without disclosing the very material to be withheld. The Chief FOIA Officer may also withhold records whose release would disclose guidelines for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions if this disclosure could reasonably be expected to create a risk that someone could circumvent requirements of law or of regulation. - (f) **Life and physical safety.** Under the FOIA Exemption 7(F) ([5 U.S.C. 552(b)(7)(f)](/usc/5/552.md?p=b-7-f)), the Chief FOIA Officer may withhold records whose disclosure could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual. This protection extends to threats and harassment, as well as to physical violence. # §1662.25. The FOIA Exemptions 8 and 9: Records on financial institutions; records on wells. Exemption 8 exempts from disclosure records about regulation or supervision of financial institutions. Exemption 9 exempts from disclosure geological and geophysical information and data, including maps, concerning wells.