EPA Part 2 Section 201

TITLE 40--PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT
 
CHAPTER I--ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
 
PART 2--PUBLIC INFORMATION--Table of Contents
 
Subpart B--Confidentiality of Business Information
 

Sec. 2.201  Definitions.

    For the purposes of this subpart:
    (a) Person means an individual, partnership, corporation, 
association, or other public or private organization or legal entity, 
including Federal, State or local governmental bodies and agencies and 
their employees.
    (b) Business means any person engaged in a business, trade, 
employment, calling or profession, whether or not all or any part of the 
net earnings derived from such engagement by such person inure (or may 
lawfully inure) to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual.
    (c) Business information (sometimes referred to simply as 
information) means any information which pertains to the interests of 
any business, which was developed or acquired by that business, and 
(except where the context otherwise requires) which is possessed by EPA 
in recorded form.
    (d) Affected business means, with reference to an item of business 
information, a business which has asserted (and not waived or withdrawn) 
a business confidentiality claim covering the information, or a business 
which could be expected to make such a claim if it were aware that 
disclosure of the information to the public was proposed.
    (e) Reasons of business confidentiality include the concept of trade 
secrecy and other related legal concepts which give (or may give) a 
business the right to preserve the confidentiality of business 
information and to limit its use or disclosure by others in order that 
the business may obtain or retain business advantages it derives from 
its rights in the information. The definition is meant to encompass any 
concept which authorizes a Federal agency to withhold business 
information under 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4), as well as any concept which 
requires EPA to withhold information from the public for the benefit of 
a business under 18 U.S.C. 1905 or any of the various statutes cited in 
Sec. 2.301 through Sec. 2.309.
    (f) [Reserved]
    (g) Information which is available to the public is information in 
EPA's possession which EPA will furnish to any member of the public upon 
request and which EPA may make public, release or otherwise make 
available to any person whether or not its disclosure has been 
requested.
    (h) Business confidentiality claim (or, simply, claim) means a claim 
or allegation that business information is entitled to confidential 
treatment for reasons of business confidentiality, or a request for a 
determination that such information is entitled to such treatment.
    (i) Voluntarily submitted information means business information in 
EPA's possession--
    (1) The submission of which EPA had no statutory or contractual 
authority to require; and
    (2) The submission of which was not prescribed by statute or 
regulation as a condition of obtaining some benefit (or avoiding some 
disadvantage) under a regulatory program of general applicability, 
including such regulatory programs as permit, licensing, registration, 
or certification programs, but excluding programs concerned solely or 
primarily with the award or administration by EPA of contracts or 
grants.
    (j) Recorded means written or otherwise registered in some form for 
preserving information, including such forms as drawings, photographs, 
videotape, sound recordings, punched cards, and computer tape or disk.
    (k) [Reserved]
    (l) Administrator, Regional Administrator, General Counsel, Regional 
Counsel, and Freedom of Information Officer mean the EPA officers or 
employees occupying the positions so titled.
    (m) EPA office means any organizational element of EPA, at any level 
or location. (The terms EPA office and EPA legal office are used in this 
subpart for the sake of brevity and ease of reference. When this subpart 
requires that an action be taken by an EPA office or by an EPA legal 
office, it is the responsibility of the officer or employee in charge of 
that office to take the action or ensure that it is taken.)
    (n) EPA legal office means the EPA General Counsel and any EPA 
office over which the General Counsel exercises supervisory authority, 
including the various Offices of Regional Counsel. (See paragraph (m) of 
this section.)
    (o) A working day is any day on which Federal Government offices are 
open for normal business. Saturdays, Sundays, and official Federal 
holidays are not working days; all other days are.
EPA Part 2 Section 201

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