FOIA b(3) Exemptions

Federal Trade Commission FOIA Exemptions

46.0
Use Rate 		365.0
Total claims 		794
Denials

Federal Trade CommissionAnnual Reports: '08 |
The Federal Trade Commission used b(3) exemptions to withhold information from FOIA requesters 794 times in 2008-2009.

Category

  • All
  • Commerce and Trade
  • Food and Drugs
  • Public Contracts
Statute Description Claims
15 USC 57b-2(f) Material obtained pursuant to process or voluntarily in lieu of process in a law enforcement investigation. 256.0
15 USC 46(f) Any trade secrets or any commercial or financial information which is obtained from any person and which is privileged or confidential. 73.0
15 USC 18a(h) Information submitted in connection with the premerger notification provisions of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 26.0
15 USC 57b-2(b) Materials received pursuant to compulsory process in a law enforcement investigation. 6.0
21 USC 355 Note Any information or documentary material that may have been filed pursuant to the pharmaceutical agreement notification 3.0
41 USC 253b(m) Proposals submitted by unsuccessful contract bidders 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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