Information Docket on Claims Raised about State-Owned Airlines in Qatar and the UAE

The U.S. Departments of Commerce, State, and Transportation are reviewing claims that three 

foreign airlines – Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways, and Qatar Airways – have received and are 

benefitting from subsidies from their respective governments of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) 

and Qatar that are distorting the global aviation market. The claims, which are asserted in a 

publicly available report, are of significant interest to stakeholders and all three Federal 

agencies. The U.S. government takes seriously the concerns raised in the report and is interested 

in receiving insights and feedback from stakeholders before any decisions are made regarding 

what action, if any, should be taken. Accordingly, consistent with the Obama Administration’s 

Open Government Initiative and commitment to transparency, public participation, and 

collaboration, the three Departments are announcing the establishment of an open forum by 

which any interested stakeholder may submit information regarding their views on this subject 

and have access to the information submitted by other interested stakeholders.

Beginning today, any interested person or group may submit information, responses to existing 

materials, or any other analysis that they might wish to provide the U.S. government on this 

subject on the www.regulations.gov website. Each Department will have a corresponding 

number – listed below – on www.regulations.gov, and all submissions will be reviewed jointly 

by the interagency team. All correspondence received by the Departments after the issuance of 

this notice will be considered part of this submission process and will be posted in 

www.regulations.gov for the benefit of the public, unless the submitter has requested and been 

granted confidential treatment of commercial information by the Departments. To the extent 

allowed by law, the Departments will protect trade secrets and confidential commercial or 

financial information from disclosure, and will follow their established procedures under the 

Freedom of Information Act, Executive Order 12600, and the relevant Department regulations 

for handling requests that seek disclosure of confidential business information. 

Any stakeholder that has previously submitted letters on this matter to the Departments can also 

submit such previous correspondence to the www.regulations.gov website. All material posted 

will be deemed to be public and freely accessible by any interested person.

The three Departments encourage submissions to be made as soon as practicable, as review of 

any new material submitted to the joint docket is expected to begin by the end of May, to 

supplement the U.S. government’s ongoing review and evaluation of this matter.

To submit a comment, please visit www.regulations.gov and enter one of the below docket 

numbers in the search field:

• U.S. Department of Transportation: DOT-OST-2015-0082

• U.S. Department of State: DOS-2015-0016

• U.S. Department of Commerce: DOC-2015-0001
Questions & Answers for Information Docket

1) Q. The Departments say that review of the new material will begin towards the 

end of May. What do the three Departments intend to do with this material?

A. We are asking for stakeholder input on this matter to supplement the information 

that we are already reviewing and considering. No decision has been made on next 

steps. 

2) Q. When will the joint docket on www.regulations.gov close for submissions?

A. There are no deadlines for submissions and we do not expect to close the joint 

docket in the foreseeable future. We do, however, encourage submissions as soon as 

practicable, in order to promote a robust dialogue amongst stakeholders and provide the 

U.S. government sufficient time to evaluate the information. 

3) Q. The release refers to the Administration’s Open Government Initiative. Does 

the open and transparent character of this forum mean that anyone can file 

anything?

A. The Departments are not interested in limiting the scope of what the public may 

offer in terms of submissions. There is no specific constraint on the material that 

interested stakeholders may submit. Of course, we expect that the submissions will be 

relevant, and we encourage thoughtful insights and analysis.

4) Q. I understand that the docket on the www.regulations.gov will be accessible to 

the public. Is the public docket the only means by which I can provide information?

A. While the preference is for written submissions to be made available to the public, 

the establishment of the joint docket is not intended to foreclose other means of 

communication with the three Departments and U.S. government officials. With respect 

to the dockets, however, no provision has been made for submission of confidential 

material to these dockets. The materials in the docket will not be edited to remove 

identifying or contact information, and the Departments caution against including any 

information in an electronic submission that one does not want publicly disclosed.

5) Q. How do I submit information that I believe to be confidential business 

information?

A. With respect to information the submitter considers to be trade secrets, or 

commercial or financial information that is privileged or confidential that may be exempt 

from disclosure to the public under exemption 4 of the Freedom of Information Act (5 

U.S.C. § 552(b)(4)), the Departments will appoint a separate contact to receive such 

information. Any person who seeks to submit such information will be asked to:

(1) File it in a sealed envelope marked “confidential treatment requested”;
(2) Provide an index listing the information or document sought to be withheld by 

an identifying number, including its title, description, and page numbers, and 

if relevant the specific location within a document; and

(3) Provide a statement explaining why the information falls under exemption 4

of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) – which encompasses “trade 

secrets and commercial or financial information [that is] privileged or 

confidential” – including an explanation of why the submitter does not 

customarily release the information to the public.