(a) Any person required to present information to the commission pursuant to Section 25354 may request that specific information be held in confidence. Information requested to be held in confidence shall be presumed to be confidential.
(b) Information presented to the commission pursuant to Section 25354 shall be held in confidence by the commission or aggregated to the extent necessary to assure confidentiality if public disclosure of the specific information or data would result in unfair competitive disadvantage to the person supplying the information.
(c) (1) Whenever the commission receives a request to publicly disclose unaggregated information, or otherwise proposes to publicly disclose information submitted pursuant to Section 25354, notice of the request or proposal shall be provided to the person submitting the information. The notice shall indicate the form in which the information is to be released. Upon receipt of notice, the person submitting the information shall have 10 working days in which to respond to the notice to justify the claim of confidentiality on each specific item of information covered by the notice on the basis that public disclosure of the specific information would result in unfair competitive disadvantage to the person supplying the information.
(2) The commission shall consider the respondent’s submittal in determining whether to publicly disclose the information submitted to it to which a claim of confidentiality is made. The commission shall issue a written decision which sets forth its reasons for making the determination whether each item of information for which a claim of confidentiality is made shall remain confidential or shall be publicly disclosed.
(d) The commission shall not make public disclosure of information submitted to it pursuant to Section 25354 within 10 working days after the commission has issued its written decision required in this section.
(e) No information submitted to the commission pursuant to Section 25354 shall be deemed confidential if the person submitting the information or data has made it public.
(f) With respect to petroleum products and blendstocks reported by type pursuant to paragraph (1) or (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 25354 and information provided pursuant to subdivision (h) or (i) of Section 25354, neither the commission nor any employee of the commission may do any of the following:
(1) Use the information furnished under paragraph (1) or (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 25354 or under subdivision (h) or (i) of Section 25354 for any purpose other than the statistical purposes for which it is supplied.
(2) Make any publication whereby the information furnished by any particular establishment or individual under paragraph (1) or (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 25354 or under subdivision (h) or (i) of Section 25354 can be identified.
(3) Permit anyone other than commission members and employees of the commission to examine the individual reports provided under paragraph (1) or (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 25354 or under subdivision (h) or (i) of Section 25354.
(g) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the commission may disclose confidential information received pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 25304 or Section 25354 to the State Air Resources Board if the state board agrees to keep the information confidential. With respect to the information it receives, the state board shall be subject to all pertinent provisions of this section.
(Amended by Stats. 2003, Ch. 692, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2004.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018