§ 4.12 - Information available under the FOIA.

§ 4.12 Information available under the FOIA.

(a) General. Except as otherwise provided by the FOIA, OCC and Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) records are available to the public.

(b) Exemptions from availability. The following records, or portions thereof, are exempt from disclosure under the FOIA:

(1) A record that is specifically authorized, under criteria established by an Executive order, to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy, and that is properly classified pursuant to that Executive order;

(2) A record relating solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an agency;

(3) A record specifically exempted from disclosure by statute (other than 5 U.S.C. 552b), provided that the statute requires that the matters be withheld from the public in such a manner as to leave no discretion on the issue; establishes particular criteria for withholding, or refers to particular types of matters to be withheld; and, if enacted after the date of enactment of the OPEN FOIA Act of 2009, specifically cites to 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(3);

(4) A record that is privileged or contains trade secrets, or commercial or financial information, furnished in confidence, that relates to the business, personal, or financial affairs of any person (see § 4.16 for notice requirements regarding disclosure of confidential commercial information);

(5) An intra-agency or interagency memorandum or letter not routinely available by law to a private party in litigation, including memoranda, reports, and other documents prepared by OCC employees, and records of deliberations and discussions at meetings of OCC employees, provided that the deliberative process privilege shall not apply to records created 25 years or more before the date on which the records were requested;

(6) A personnel, medical, or similar record, including a financial record, or any portion thereof, where disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;

(7) A record or information compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that the OCC reasonably believes that producing the record or information may:

(i) Interfere with enforcement proceedings;

(ii) Deprive a person of the right to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication;

(iii) Constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;

(iv) Disclose the identity of a confidential source, including a State, local, or foreign agency or authority, or any private institution that furnished information on a confidential basis;

(v) Disclose information furnished by a confidential source, in the case of a record or information compiled by a criminal law enforcement authority in the course of a criminal investigation, or by an agency conducting a lawful national security intelligence investigation;

(vi) Disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions, or disclose guidelines for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions if such disclosure reasonably could be expected to risk circumvention of the law; or

(vii) Endanger the life or physical safety of any individual;

(8) A record contained in or related to an examination, operating, or condition report prepared by, on behalf of, or for the use of the OCC or any other agency responsible for regulating or supervising financial institutions; and

(9) A record containing or relating to geological and geophysical information and data, including maps, concerning wells.

(c) Discretionary disclosure of exempt records. Even if a record is exempt under paragraph (b) of this section, the OCC may elect, on a case-by-case basis, not to apply the exemption to the requested record. The OCC's election not to apply an exemption to a requested record has no precedential significance as to the application or nonapplication of the exemption to any other requested record, regardless of who requests the record or when the OCC receives the request. The OCC will provide predisclosure notice to submitters of confidential commercial information in accordance with § 4.16.

(d) Segregability. If the OCC determines that full disclosure of a requested record is not possible, the OCC considers whether partial disclosure of information is possible and takes reasonable steps necessary to segregate and release nonexempt information. The OCC will note the location and extent of any deletion, and identify the FOIA exemption under which material has been deleted, on the released portion of the material, unless doing so would harm an interest protected by the exemption under paragraph (b) of this section pursuant to which the deletion was made. Where technically feasible, the amount of information redacted and the exemption pursuant to which the redaction was made will be indicated at the site(s) of the deletion.

[60 FR 57322, Nov. 15, 1995, as amended at 75 FR 17850, Apr. 8, 2010; 76 FR 43561, July 21, 2011; 81 FR 94244, Dec. 23, 2016]