§ 6744. — Confidentiality of information.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 22USC6744]
TITLE 22--FOREIGN RELATIONS AND INTERCOURSE
CHAPTER 75--CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION IMPLEMENTATION
SUBCHAPTER III--REPORTS
Sec. 6744. Confidentiality of information
(a) Freedom of Information Act exemption for certain Convention
information
Except as provided in subsection (b) or (c) of this section, 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) of this section, 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) of this section, 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) of this
section shall be subject to forfeiture to the United States in the same
manner and to the same extent as is provided in section 229C \1\ of
title 18.
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\1\ So in original. Probably should be section ``229B''.
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(f) International inspectors
The provisions of this section shall also apply to employees of the
Technical Secretariat.
(Pub. L. 105-277, div. I, title IV, Sec. 404, Oct. 21, 1998, 112 Stat.
2681-882.)
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.
