§ 1116.9 Confidentiality of reports. ( a ) Pursuant to section 6(e) of the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2055(e)) no member of the Commission, no officer or employee of the Commission, and no officer or employee of the Department of Justice may publicly disclose information furnished to the Commission under section 37(c)(1) and section 37(c)(2)(A) of the Act, except that: ( 1 ) An authenticated copy of a section 37 report furnished to the Commission by or on behalf of a manufacturer may, upon written request, be furnished to the manufacturer or its authorized agent after payment of the actual or estimated cost of searching the records and furnishing such copies; or
( 2 ) Any information furnished to the Commission under section 37 shall, upon written request of the Chairman or Ranking Minority Member of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate or the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives or any subcommittee of such committee, be provided to the Chairman or Ranking Minority Member for purposes that are related to the jurisdiction of such committee or subcommittee.
( b ) The prohibition contained in section 6(e) (15 U.S.C. 2055(e)) against the disclosure of information submitted pursuant to section 37 only applies to the specific items of information that a manufacturer is required to submit under section 37(c)(1) and to statements under section 37(c)(2)(A) relating to the possibility or existence of an appeal of a reported judgment adverse to a manufacturer. Section 6(e)(1) does not, by its terms, apply to information that the manufacturer voluntarily chooses to submit pursuant to section 37(c)(2)(B). Thus, disclosure of such information is governed by the other provisions of section 6 of the CPSA (15 U.S.C. 2055) and by the interpretative rules issued by the Commission (16 CFR parts 1101 and 1015). For example, if a manufacturer includes information otherwise reportable under section 15 as part of a section 37 report, the Commission will treat the information reported pursuant to section 15 as “additional information” submitted pursuant to section 37(c)(2)(B). Generally, any issue of the public disclosure of that information will be controlled by the relevant provisions of section 6(b), including section 6(b)(5) relating to the disclosure of substantial product hazard reports, and section 6(a) relating to the disclosure of confidential or trade secret information. However, to the extent the section 15 report reiterates or references information reported under section 37, the confidentiality provisions of section 6(e) still apply to the reiteration or reference. In addition, interpretative regulations issued under section 6(b) of the Act establish that disclosure of certain information may be barred if the disclosure would not be fair in the circumstances. 16 CFR 1101.33. Accordingly, issues of releasing additional information submitted pursuant to section 37 will also be evaluated under the fairness provisions of section 6(b). Should the Commission receive a request for such information or contemplate disclosure on its own initiative, the manufacturer will be given an opportunity to present arguments to the Commission why the information should not be disclosed, including, if appropriate, why disclosure of the information would be unfair in the circumstances. Among the factors the Commission will consider in evaluating the fairness of releasing the information are the nature of the information, the fact that it is an adjunct to a Congressional protected report, and whether the information in question supports the conclusion that a section 37 or 15(b), CPSA, report should have been filed earlier.
( c ) Section 6(e) imposes no confidentiality requirements on information obtained by the Commission independently of a report pursuant to section 37. The provisions of section 6(b) govern the disclosure of such information.