§ 19-09 Business Confidentiality Procedures.
RCNY § 19-09
(a)Scope. These procedures concern all information submitted to the Department pursuant to either the New York City Department of Environmental Protection rules and regulations relating to the use of the Public Sewers or to §§ 24-501 et seq. of Chapter 5 of Title 24 of the Administrative Code of the City of New York. All requests for confidentiality will be evaluated in accordance with Article 6 of the New York State Public Officers Law.
(b)Submission of Business Confidentiality Claims ("Claims") in Response to Requests for Information by the Department.
(1)Method and time to assert a claim. A business may assert a claim concerning information requested by the Department, by placing a cover sheet, stamped legend or any other suitable form of notice on the information, employing language such as "trade secret", "proprietary" or "company confidential" at the time such information is submitted. Allegedly confidential parts of otherwise non-confidential documents should be clearly marked as such. Effluent data, as defined in 40 C.F.R. Part 2.302, cannot be treated as confidential.
(2)Failure to submit a timely claim. If a business submits information in response to a Department request, without a claim accompanying such information at the time it is received by the Department, the Department need not make further inquiries to the business concerning confidentiality of the submitted information, and the information may be made available for public inspection. If a claim is submitted after the Department has received the information, the Department may make efforts that are administratively practicable to process the late claim with the previously submitted information.
(c)Department requests for comments and their submission by claimants.
(3)If disclosure of information under a claim would be helpful in alleviating a situation posing an imminent and substantial danger to public health or safety, the Department may prescribe and make known to an affected business a shorter comment period that it finds necessary under the circumstances.
(4)Information submitted by a business as part of its comments, pertaining to its claim, will be treated as part of the claim.
(5)Written notice will invite comments on: (i) the period of time for which confidential treatment is desired; (ii) the extent to which the information has been disclosed to others and any measures or precautions taken to guard against undesired disclosure; (iii) whether any other governmental agency determination or any judicial decision has held the claimed information to be confidential. If so, a copy of such determination or decision, if available, must be included; and (iv) whether the business asserts that disclosure would be likely to result in substantial harmful effects on their competitive position, what those harmful effects would be, and why they should be viewed as substantial. The reasons why the information is considered to be confidential (i.e. why the information should be regarded as a trade secret or proprietary information) must be stated in detail.
(d)Non-final recommendation by the Department. When a business submits information to the Department that is claimed to be confidential, the Department shall consider the claim and comments, previously issued determinations, material submitted to the Department in response to requests, applicable substantive criteria and any other material that it finds appropriate. The Department will make a non-final recommendation as to whether or not the information should be treated as confidential and this recommendation shall be forwarded to the designated Records Access Officer upon request.
(e)Final confidentiality determination. When notified of a request, pursuant to the Freedom of Information Law, for any claimed information, the Records Access Officer shall issue a final confidentiality determination. If it is determined that the information should not be treated as confidential, the affected business shall be notified (in writing) by the Records Access Officer of that determination and that a request for the release of such information has been made. Notice shall also state the date that the information will be released. If the Records Access Officer decides to treat the information as confidential, the request for release of the information shall be denied. (Amended City Record 2/18/2020, eff. 3/19/2020)
