51-8.8—Business information.
(a)
When, in responding to an FOIA request, the Committee cannot readily determine whether the information obtained from a person is privileged or confidential business information or when a submitter has labeled information as proprietary at the time of submission, it shall:
(1)
Obtain and consider the views of the submitter of the information and provide the submitter at least 10 working days to object to any decision to disclose the information and to provide reasons for the objection;
(2)
Provide business information submitters with notice of any determination to disclose such records, to which the submitter has objected to disclosure, 10 working days prior to the disclosure date, and the reasons for which its disclosure objection is not sustained;
(3)
Notify business information submitters promptly of all instances in which FOIA requesters are bringing suit seeking to compel disclosure of submitted information.
(b)
The submitter, in responding to a request under paragraph (a)(1) of this section, must explain fully all grounds upon which disclosure is opposed. For example, if the submitter maintains that disclosure is likely to cause substantial harm to its competitive position, the submitter must explain how disclosure would cause such harm.
(c)
When a central nonprofit agency has submitted business information on behalf of a workshop, the workshop shall be considered to be the “business information submitter” for the purposes of this section.