§1122.4. Board-Initiated Investigations. — Inbound Citations

(a) When producing documents under § 1122.4, the producing party shall submit a statement certifying that such person has made a reasonable search for the responsive documents and is producing all the documents called for by the Investigating Officer(s), subject to any search protocols agreed to by the Investigating Officer(s) and producing parties. If any responsive document(s) are not produced for any reason, the producing party shall state the reason therefor.

(a) All information and documents obtained under § 1122.3 or § 1122.4, whether or not obtained pursuant to a Board request or subpoena, and all activities conducted by the Board under this part prior to the opening of a Formal Board Proceeding, shall be treated as nonpublic by the Board and its staff except to the extent that:

(1) The Board, in accordance with 49 CFR 1001.4(c), (d), and (e), directs or authorizes the public disclosure of activities conducted under this part prior to the opening of a Formal Board Proceeding. If any of the activities being publicly disclosed implicate records claimed to be confidential commercial information, the Board shall notify the submitter prior to disclosure in accordance with 49 CFR 1001.4(b) and provide an opportunity to object to disclosure in accordance with 49 CFR 1001.4(d);

(2) The information or documents are made a matter of public record during the course of an administrative proceeding; or

(3) Disclosure is required by the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552 or other relevant provision of law.

Any person that produces documents to the Board pursuant to § 1122.3 or § 1122.4 may claim that some or all of the information contained in a particular document or documents is exempt from the mandatory public disclosure requirements of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552, is information referred to in 18 U.S.C. 1905, or is otherwise exempt by law from public disclosure. In such case, the person making such a claim shall, at the time the person produces the document to the Board, indicate on the document that a request for confidential treatment is being made for some or all of the information in the document. In such case, the person making such a claim also shall file a brief statement specifying the specific statutory justification for non-disclosure of the information in the document for which confidential treatment is claimed. If the person states that the information comes within the exception in 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4) for trade secrets and commercial or financial information, and the information is responsive to a subsequent FOIA request to the Board, 49 CFR 1001.4 shall apply.