§ 222.19 Protective orders; personally identifiable information. ( a ) *Standard protective order.* At the request of any party, the Board's standard protective order, as described in this section, shall govern all discovery material exchanged during the proceeding to protect against improper use or disclosure. Requests for a standard protective order shall follow the procedures set forth in § 220.5(a)(1) of this subchapter. ( 1 ) *Standard of use.* Discovery material received from another party may be used only in connection with the proceeding, and all copies must be returned or disposed of within 30 days of a determination or dismissal, or within 30 days of the exhaustion of the time for any review or appeal of the Board's *final determination,* whichever is later.
( 2 ) *Confidentiality.* Discovery material may be designated as “confidential” only if the party reasonably and in good faith believes that it consists of: ( i ) Bona fide confidential financial information previously not disclosed to the public;
( ii ) Bona fide confidential and non-obvious business plans, product development information, or advertising or marketing plans previously not disclosed to the public;
( iii ) Any information of a truly personal or intimate nature regarding any individual not known by the public; or
( iv ) Any other category of information that the Board grants leave to designate as “confidential.”
( 3 ) *Case-by-case basis.* Parties must make confidentiality determinations on a document-by-document basis and shall not designate as “confidential” all discovery material produced in bulk.
( 4 ) *Submitting confidential information.* Confidential discovery materials, or references to or discussions of confidential discovery materials in other documents, may be submitted to the Board by either filing them under seal or redacting the confidential document. If filed under seal, the confidential document must be accompanied by a redacted copy that may be included in the public record.
( 5 ) *Determination of confidentiality by the Board.* After notice and an opportunity for the designating party to respond, the Board in its discretion may remove a confidentiality designation from any material on its own initiative or upon consideration of a request from a party. Parties must attempt to resolve disputes over confidentiality designations before bringing such disputes to the Board. Requests to remove a confidentiality designation and any responses thereto shall follow the procedures set forth in § 220.5(a)(1) of this subchapter.
( b ) *Custom protective orders.* Custom protective orders negotiated by the parties are disfavored. The parties may request that the Board enter a custom protective order that has been negotiated by the parties and that may provide for additional protections for highly sensitive materials. Such a request must be accompanied by a stipulation between the parties that explains the need for such a custom protective order and shall follow the procedures set forth in § 220.5(a)(1) of this subchapter. The custom protective order must be attached as an exhibit to the request. The Board may in its discretion decide whether to grant the parties' request for a custom protective order.
( c ) *Personally identifiable information.* Regardless of whether discovery material has been designated as “confidential,” parties must redact social security numbers, taxpayer identification numbers, birth dates, health information protected by law, the names of any individuals known to be minors, and financial account numbers from any public filings.
( d ) *Violations of protective order.* Violations of a protective order may constitute *bad-faith conduct* pursuant to § 232.3 of this subchapter.
[87 FR 30077, May 17, 2022]