§7306 — Title 15 Commerce and Trade | U.S. Code

Summary

Make copies of records, information, or investigation materials given to a Team available to the public if someone asks and pays a reasonable fee, unless an exception applies. Records covered by section 552(b) of title 5 or other federal privacy or secrecy laws are not released. Also, NIST (the National Institute of Standards and Technology) or a Team can hold back information until the report required by section 7307 is issued. The Director can block release of safety information people give voluntarily if it is not directly about the building failure and releasing it would stop others from sharing similar information. The Director must also withhold any information if releasing it might endanger public safety.

Title 15, §7306

Commerce and Trade — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Except as otherwise provided in this section, a copy of a record, information, or investigation submitted or received by a Team shall be made available to the public on request and at reasonable cost.

(b)Subsection (a) does not require the release of—

(1)information described by section 552(b) of title 5 or protected from disclosure by any other law of the United States; or

(2)information described in subsection (a) by the National Institute of Standards and Technology or by a Team until the report required by section 7307 of this title is issued.

(c)Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a Team, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and any agency receiving information from a Team or the National Institute of Standards and Technology, shall not disclose voluntarily provided safety-related information if that information is not directly related to the building failure being investigated and the Director finds that the disclosure of the information would inhibit the voluntary provision of that type of information.

(d)A Team and the National Institute of Standards and Technology shall not publicly release any information it receives in the course of an investigation under this chapter if the Director finds that the disclosure of that information might jeopardize public safety.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This chapter, referred to in subsec. (d), was in the original “this Act”, meaning Pub. L. 107–231, Oct. 1, 2002, 116 Stat. 1471, known as the National

Construction

Safety Team Act, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 7301 of this title and Tables.

§7306 Disclosure of Information