31 C.F.R. § 1.5

Confidential commercial information

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(a) Definitions—(1) Confidential commercial information means trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained by the Department from a submitter that may be protected from disclosure under Exemption 4 of the FOIA.

(2) Submitter means any person or entity from whom the Department obtains confidential commercial information, directly or indirectly.

(3) Designation of confidential commercial information. A submitter of confidential commercial information must use good faith efforts to designate by appropriate markings, either at the time of submission or within a reasonable time thereafter, any portion of its submission that it considers to be protected from disclosure under Exemption 4. These designations will expire ten years after the date of the submission unless the submitter requests and provides justification for a longer designation period.

(b) When notice to submitters is required. (1) A component shall promptly provide written notice to a submitter whenever:

(i) The requested confidential commercial information has been designated in good faith by the submitter as information considered protected from disclosure under Exemption 4; or

(ii) The component has a reason to believe that the requested confidential commercial information may be protected from disclosure under Exemption 4 of the FOIA.

(2) The notice shall either describe the confidential commercial information requested or include a copy of the requested records or portions of records containing the information. In cases involving a voluminous number of submitters, notice may be made by posting or publishing the notice in a place or manner reasonably likely to accomplish it.

(1) The component determines that the confidential commercial information is exempt from disclosure under the FOIA;

(2) The confidential commercial information lawfully has been published or has been officially made available to the public; or

(3) Disclosure of the confidential commercial information is required by a statute other than the FOIA or by a regulation issued in accordance with the requirements of Executive Order 12600 of June 23, 1987;

(d) Opportunity to object to disclosure. (1) A component will specify a reasonable time period as determined within its administrative discretion within which the submitter must respond to the notice referenced above. If a submitter has any objections to disclosure, it should provide the component a detailed written statement that specifies all grounds for withholding the particular confidential commercial information under any exemption of the FOIA. In order to rely on Exemption 4 as a basis for nondisclosure, the submitter must explain why the information constitutes a trade secret, or commercial or financial information that is privileged or confidential.

(2) A submitter who fails to respond within the time period specified in the notice shall be considered to have no objection to disclosure of the information. An objection to disclosure received by the component after the time period specified in the notice will not be considered by the component. Any information provided by a submitter under this subpart may itself be subject to disclosure under the FOIA and/or protected from disclosure by applicable exemptions or by a statute other than the FOIA.

(e) Analysis of objections. A component shall consider a submitter's objections and specific grounds for nondisclosure in deciding whether to disclose the requested confidential commercial information.

(f) Notice of intent to disclose. Whenever a component decides to disclose confidential commercial information over the objection of a submitter, the component shall provide the submitter written notice, which shall include:

(1) A statement of the reasons why each of the submitter's disclosure objections was not sustained;

(2) Copies of the records that the component intends to disclose or, in the alternative, a description of the confidential commercial information to be disclosed; and

(3) A specified disclosure date, which shall be a reasonable time subsequent to the notice.

(g) Notice of FOIA lawsuit. Whenever a requester files a lawsuit seeking to compel the disclosure of confidential commercial information, the component shall promptly notify the submitter.

(h) Requester notification. The component shall notify a requester whenever it provides the submitter with notice and an opportunity to object to disclosure; whenever it notifies the submitter of its intent to disclose the requested confidential commercial information; and whenever a submitter files a lawsuit to prevent the disclosure of the confidential commercial information.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 21 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1979–2025 · leading case: Maxwell, Lawrence v. Snow, John, 409 F.3d 354 (D.C. Cir. 2005).

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Maxwell, Lawrence v. Snow, John, 409 F.3d 354 (D.C. Cir. 2005). · cites it 2× “It also found that the Appellants may have failed to “reasonably describe the records” sought, 31 C.F.R. § 1.5 (b)(4), but that the IRS could not simply dismiss the entire request because some of the nineteen requests were incomplete or consisted of “pseudo-requests” attempting…”

Jud. Watch, Inc. v. Rossotti, Charles, 326 F.3d 1309 (D.C. Cir. 2003). “Citing Treasury regulations providing that FOIA’s twenty-day time limit does not apply to requests that fail to “conform in every respect” to the department’s regulations, 31 C.F.R. § 1.5 (a)(1), and that requests are only “considered to have been *1312 received on the date on…”

Unigard Ins. v. Dep't of the Treasury, 997 F. Supp. 1339 (S.D. Cal. 1997). · cites it 2× “” 31 C.F.R. § 1.5 (c)(1). (emphasis added).”

Susan B. Long & Philip H. Long v. United States Internal Revenue Serv., 596 F.2d 362 (9th Cir. 1979). “” 31 C.F.R. § 1.5 (f) & 1.6(g)(3)(ii) (1977).”

Jud. Watch, Inc. v. United States Dep't of Just., 306 F. Supp. 2d 58 (D.D.C. 2004). “See 31 C.F.R. § 1.5 (a)(4). All Treasury offices were required to search their files, to certify their completion of that search, and to provide responsive documents to the Counselor for the General Counsel.”

Brown v. U.S. Env't Prot. Agency, 384 F. Supp. 2d 271 (D.D.C. 2005). “” 31 C.F.R. § 1.5 (c)(1). A person “whose name does not appear on a request for records has not made a formal request for documents within the meaning of the statute.”

Laturner v. United States, 133 Fed. Cl. 47 (Fed. Cl. 2017). “Kansas asks the Court to direct the Department of Treasury to provide it with the information it is entitled to receive pursuant to 31 C.F.R. §§ 1.5 and 323.2 as the owner of the bonds.”

Dorsett v. United States Dep't of the Treasury, 307 F. Supp. 2d 28 (D.D.C. 2004). “” 31 C.F.R. § 1.5 (c)(1). This approach is essentially identical to the procedure approved by the District of Columbia Circuit in McGehee v.”

Kleven v. City of Des Moines, 44 P.3d 887 (Wash. Ct. App. 2002). “at 1342 (quoting 31 C.F.R. § 1.5 (c)(1)) (italics in original).”

Kleven v. City of Des Moines, 111 Wash. App. 284 (Wash. Ct. App. 2002). “at 1342 (quoting 31 C.F.R. § 1.5 (c)(1)). RCW 42.17.270; Bonamy, 92 Wn.”

Fox News Network, LLC v. United States Dep't of the Treasury, 911 F. Supp. 2d 261 (S.D.N.Y. 2012). “¶ 17) (citing 31 C.F.R. § 1.5 (c)(2)). In August 2009, Treasury provided Fox with an initial 102-page Vaughn Index 3 of withheld documents and disgorged an additional 43 pages of documents that it previously had withheld.”

Wright v. U.S. Dep't of Just., 379 F. Supp. 3d 1067 (S.D. Cal. 2019). “The Treasury contends that Wright again failed to respond, and it then administratively closed his request under 31 C.F.R. 1.5(a)(1), which provides that "[i]f a requester does not respond within 30 days to a communication from a bureau to amend the request in order for it to be…”

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— 31 C.F.R. § 1.5(a)(1) — 1 case

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