Opinion ID: 591123
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Application of Exemption 4 to Information Provided on a Voluntary Basis

Text: 62 The Supreme Court has encouraged the development of categorical rules whenever a particular set of facts will lead to a generally predictable application of FOIA. See United States Dep't of Justice v. Reporters Comm. for Freedom of the Press, 489 U.S. 749, 109 S.Ct. 1468, 103 L.Ed.2d 774 (1989). The Court emphasized that 63 establishing a discrete category of exempt information, [will] implement[ ] the congressional intent to provide workable rules.... Only by construing the Exemption to provide a categorical rule can the Act's purpose of expediting disclosure by means of workable rules be furthered. 64 Id. at 779, 109 S.Ct. at 1485 (quoting FTC v. Grolier, Inc., 462 U.S. 19, 27-28, 103 S.Ct. 2209, 2214-15, 76 L.Ed.2d 387 (1983) (emphasis in original)). We also take cognizance of the Court's practical approach when ... confronted with an issue of interpretation of [FOIA]. John Doe Agency v. John Doe Corp., 493 U.S. 146, 157, 110 S.Ct. 471, 478, 107 L.Ed.2d 462 (1989). 65 The circumstances of this case lend themselves to categorical treatment. It is a matter of common sense that the disclosure of information the Government has secured from voluntary sources on a confidential basis will both jeopardize its continuing ability to secure such data on a cooperative basis and injure the provider's interest in preventing its unauthorized release. Accordingly, while we reaffirm the National Parks test for determining the confidentiality of information submitted under compulsion, we conclude that financial or commercial information provided to the Government on a voluntary basis is confidential for the purpose of Exemption 4 if it is of a kind that would customarily not be released to the public by the person from whom it was obtained. 66 We make three observations about this test. First, it is objective. As is the case with any claim under FOIA, see 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(B) (1988), the agency invoking Exemption 4 must meet the burden of proving the provider's custom. Second, we know of no case considered by this court in the past, other than Critical Mass I and II, that would have been decided differently had this test been applied. Finally, in defining the limits of the National Parks confidentiality test, we do not repudiate any part of our holding in that case. A respect for stare decisis does not require the most expansive application of principles enunciated in a prior decision. To the contrary, 67 [i]t is a maxim not to be disregarded, that general expressions, in every opinion, are to be taken in connection with the case in which those expressions are used. If they go beyond the case, they may be respected, but ought not to control the judgment in a subsequent suit when the very point is presented for decision. The reason of this maxim is obvious. The question actually before the Court is investigated with care, and considered in its full extent. Other principles which may serve to illustrate it, are considered in their relation to the case decided, but their possible bearing on all other cases is seldom completely investigated. 68 Cohens v. Virginia, 19 U.S. (6 Wheat.) 264, 399-400, 5 L.Ed. 257 (1821). See also United States v. Rubin, 609 F.2d 51, 69 n. 2 (2d Cir.1979) (Friendly, J., concurring). 69 Applying this rule to the INPO reports, we agree with the district court's conclusion that the information they contain is commercial in nature; that the reports are provided to the NRC on a voluntary basis; and that INPO does not customarily release such information to the public. See Critical Mass, 644 F.Supp. at 346-47 and n. 5; see also Critical Mass I, 830 F.2d at 280-81. On the basis of these findings, we hold that the INPO reports are confidential within the meaning of Exemption 4 and therefore protected from disclosure. 70 CMEP asserts that the test we announce today may lead government agencies and industry to conspire to keep information from the public by agreeing to the voluntary submission of information that the agency has the power to compel. CMEP alleges that the NRC had in fact planned to impose greatly expanded mandatory reporting requirements on its licensees until INPO undertook to manage the voluntary reporting system they would have replaced and to provide the NRC with access to the information generated by it. See Brief for Appellant at 37-39. 71 We know of no provision in FOIA that obliges agencies to exercise their regulatory authority in a manner that will maximize the amount of information that will be made available to the public through that Act. Nor do we see any reason to interfere with the NRC's exercise of its own discretion in determining how it can best secure the information it needs. So long as that information is provided voluntarily, and so long as it is of a kind that INPO customarily withholds from the public, it must be treated as confidential.