§1662.21. The FOIA Exemption 4: Trade secrets and confidential commercial or financial information. — Inbound Citations

(b) Section 552(b) of the FOIA explains the nine exemptions under which the Chief FOIA Officer may withhold records requested under the FOIA. Within §§ 1662.18 through 1662.25, the Agency describes the FOIA exemptions and explain how the Chief FOIA Officer applies them to disclosure determinations. In some cases, more than one exemption may apply to the same document. Section 552(b) of the FOIA, while providing nine exemptions from mandatory disclosure, does not itself provide any assurance of confidentiality by the Agency.

(c) The Chief FOIA Officer will not process a request under the FOIA that does not meet the requirements of a FOIA request as defined in § 1662.21. When a request under FOIA does not meet the requirements of § 1662.21, the Chief FOIA Officer will send written correspondence to the requester:

(1) Providing instructions for how to submit a proper FOIA request; or