22 U.S.C. § 6744: Confidentiality of information

Summary

Keeps business information given to the U.S. under this chapter or the Chemical Weapons Convention private from release under the Freedom of Information Act, unless one of a few exceptions applies. The government may share the information with the Convention’s Technical Secretariat or other treaty parties as the Convention allows. It must give the information to a relevant congressional committee if the committee chair or top minority member asks in writing, but those members and their staff cannot further reveal it except as law allows. The government can also share the information with other federal agencies for law enforcement or for legal cases, and must try to keep it confidential during any proceedings. The government can decide to publish information if it thinks doing so is in the national interest. Before releasing such information, it must normally notify the person who submitted it and anyone the information is about, and wait 30 days. If that person objects, the agency must review the objection, give a chance to be heard, and tell the person at least 10 days before release whether it will go ahead. Any current or former U.S. officer or employee who knowingly and wrongfully reveals this protected information can be fined or jailed for up to five years, and their property can be seized under 18 U.S.C. 229C. These rules also apply to employees of the Technical Secretariat.

Title 22, §6744

Foreign Relations and Intercourse, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Freedom of Information Act exemption for certain Convention information

Except as provided in subsection (b) or (c), any confidential business information, as defined in section 6713(g) of this title, reported to, or otherwise acquired by, the United States Government under this chapter or under the Convention shall not be disclosed under section 552(a) of title 5.

(b)Exceptions

(1)Information for the Technical Secretariat

Information shall be disclosed or otherwise provided to the Technical Secretariat or other states parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention in accordance with the Convention, in particular, the provisions of the Annex on the Protection of Confidential Information.

(2)Information for Congress

Information shall be made available to any committee or subcommittee of Congress with appropriate jurisdiction upon the written request of the chairman or ranking minority member of such committee or subcommittee, except that no such committee or subcommittee, and no member and no staff member of such committee or subcommittee, shall disclose such information or material except as otherwise required or authorized by law.

(3)Information for enforcement actions

Information shall be disclosed to other Federal agencies for enforcement of this chapter or any other law, and shall be disclosed or otherwise provided when relevant in any proceeding under this chapter or any other law, except that disclosure or provision in such a proceeding shall be made in such manner as to preserve confidentiality to the extent practicable without impairing the proceeding.

(c)Information disclosed in national interest

(1)Authority

The United States Government shall disclose any information reported to, or otherwise required by the United States Government under this chapter or the Convention, including categories of such information, that it determines is in the national interest to disclose and may specify the form in which such information is to be disclosed.

(2)Notice of disclosure

(A)Requirement

If any Department or agency of the United States Government proposes pursuant to paragraph (1) to publish or disclose or otherwise provide information exempt from disclosure under subsection (a), the United States National Authority shall, unless contrary to national security or law enforcement needs, provide notice of intent to disclose the information—

(i)to the person that submitted such information; and

(ii)in the case of information about a person received from another source, to the person to whom that information pertains.

The information may not be disclosed until the expiration of 30 days after notice under this paragraph has been provided.

(B)Proceedings on objections

In the event that the person to which the information pertains objects to the disclosure, the agency shall promptly review the grounds for each objection of the person and shall afford the objecting person a hearing for the purpose of presenting the objections to the disclosure. Not later than 10 days before the scheduled or rescheduled date for the disclosure, the United States National Authority shall notify such person regarding whether such disclosure will occur notwithstanding the objections.

(d)Criminal penalty for wrongful disclosure

Any officer or employee of the United States, and any former officer or employee of the United States, who by reason of such employment or official position has obtained possession of, or has access to, information the disclosure or other provision of which is prohibited by subsection (a), and who, knowing that disclosure or provision of such information is prohibited by such subsection, willfully discloses or otherwise provides the information in any manner to any person (including any person located outside the territory of the United States) not authorized to receive it, shall be fined under title 18 or imprisoned for not more than five years, or both.

(e)Criminal forfeiture

The property of any person who violates subsection (d) shall be subject to forfeiture to the United States in the same manner and to the same extent as is provided in section 229C of title 18.

(f)International inspectors

The provisions of this section shall also apply to employees of the Technical Secretariat.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This chapter, referred to in subsecs. (a), (b)(3), and (c)(1), was in the original “this Act” and was translated as reading “this division”, meaning div. I of Pub. L. 105–277, Oct. 21, 1998, 112 Stat. 2681–856, known as the Chemical Weapons Convention Implementation Act of 1998, to reflect the probable intent of Congress. For complete classification of division I to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 6701 of this title and Tables.

§6744 Confidentiality of Information