FOIA b(3) Exemptions

Dept. of Commerce FOIA Exemptions

32.2
Use Rate 		219.0
Total claims 		680
Denials

Dept. of Commerce Annual Reports: '08 |
The Dept. of Commerce used b(3) exemptions to withhold information from FOIA requesters 680 times in 2008-2009.

Category

  • All
  • Census
  • Commerce and Trade
  • Conservation
  • Government Organization and Employees
  • Internal Revenue Code
  • Patents
  • Public Contracts
  • War and National Defense
Statute Description Claims
13 USC 9 Information collected by the Bureau of the Census 94.0
35 USC 122 Information concerning patent applications 43.0
50 USC App 2411(c)(1) Information concerning exporting license applications 37.0
41 USC 253b(m) Proposals submitted by unsuccessful contract bidders 16.0
16 USC 1881a Statistical information in fishery management plans. 14.0
13 USC 301(g) Shippers' Export Declarations 7.0
15 USC 7306(c) Public Safety Information 5.0
5 USC App 105 Financial Disclosure Information 2.0
26 USC 6103 Tax return information 1.0

About This Project

This project uses data compiled by the Sunshine in Government initiative, a coalition of journalism and transparency groups. SGI compiled data from federal agency annual FOIA reports to track how often b(3) exemptions were used. SGI also standardized the exemptions since some agencies used slightly different citations of the same laws. In some cases, agencies listed general laws without specifying a section under which information was withheld. This project does not include information from agencies that use no b(3) exemptions in 2008 or 2009. ProPublica compiled information about FOIA denials.

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