Mississippi Administrative Code › Title 39 - UTILITIES › Part 1 - PUBLIC UTILITIES RULES OF PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE › Chapter 6 - General Rules › Rule 39-1-6 › Section 39-1-6-109 - Filing of Confidential or Exempt Document

Current through June 25, 2024
1.
Purpose and Scope
The purpose of this rule is to discourage the practice of
					 filing non-confidential information confidentially, while providing a fair
					 procedure for utilities and other filers to protect truly confidential
					 information such as trade secrets or sensitive financial information. The
					 Commission prefers that information be filed publicly, rather than
					 confidentially. This Rule shall not be construed to protect information to any
					 greater degree than that already afforded by applicable Mississippi law,
					 including the Mississippi Public Records Act, Miss. Code Ann. §
											25-61-3,
					 -9. Before any information is filed confidentially pursuant to this Rule, the
					 utility or other filer shall consider whether such information would be deemed
					 confidential under any other applicable state or federal law. If the
					 information would not be confidential under any other applicable law, then the
					 information shall not be filed confidential pursuant to this Rule.
2.
Definition
"Confidential information" means information, documents, or
					 records that are of a confidential or proprietary nature pursuant to
					 Mississippi or other applicable law.
3.
Trade Secrets
Pursuant to Miss. Code Ann. §
											75-26-3,
					 "trade secrets" may be confidential and may include but are not limited to,
					 information, including a formula, pattern, compilation, program, device,
					 method, technique or process, that: (a) derives independent economic value,
					 actual or potential, from not being generally known to, and not being readily
					 ascertainable by proper means by, other persons who can obtain economic value
					 from its disclosure or use; and (b) is the subject of efforts that are
					 reasonable under the circumstances to maintain its secrecy.
4.
Specific Items
a. Information included in a rate schedule
				  pursuant to Miss. Code Ann. §
											77-3-35
				  is not confidential and shall not be treated as such.
b. Any confidential information or items that
				  can be reasonably redacted from any document or material shall be so redacted,
				  and the document or material shall be filed publicly without seeking a
				  confidential designation. The utility or other filer must still comply with the
				  applicable justification requirements of section 6(b) of this Rule.
c. In accordance with Miss. Code Ann. §
											79-23-1(1),
				  (2), and §
											25-61-9(1),
				  information related to the establishment of, or changes in, rates regulated by
				  the Commission shall be presumed to be accessible public records. If a utility
				  considers such information confidential, the utility shall follow the
				  procedures set out in section 4(b) or section 6 of this Rule.
d. Information that has been publicly filed
				  in any other forum (for example, but not limited to, the Federal Energy
				  Regulatory Commission, with the clerk of a court, or other agency) shall not be
				  filed as confidential under this Rule.
e. If a utility seeks confidential
				  designation for any information filed in response to a data request, the
				  utility shall follow section 6(c) of this Rule.