[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 232 (Tuesday, December 3, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 71962-71963]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-30597]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-7415-8]


Inquiry to Learn Whether Businesses Assert Business 
Confidentiality Claims Covering Information Contained in Notifications 
of Intent to Export Hazardous Waste From the United States, or 
Notifications Under 40 CFR Part 262, Subpart H, Manifests for Shipments 
of Hazardous Waste From the United States and Other Documents 
Containing the Same Information; Notice of Opportunity To Comment

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency has received Freedom of 
Information (FOIA) requests for the Hazardous Waste Export Data System 
and documents contained therein pertaining to the export of hazardous 
waste from the United States. The purpose of this notice is to contact 
affected businesses other than those who furnished the documents sought 
in the FOIA requests and to provide notice to those businesses of the 
opportunity to submit comments to EPA regarding whether the information 
sought in those FOIA requests is entitled to treatment as confidential 
business information.

DATES: You must ensure that your comments are postmarked or hand 
delivered to the EPA office designated below by January 2, 2003. The 
period for submission of comments may be extended if, before the 
comments are due, you make a request for an extension of the comment 
period and it is approved by the EPA legal office. Except in 
extraordinary circumstances, the EPA legal office will not approve such 
an extension without the consent of any person whose request for 
release of the information under 5 U.S.C. 552 is pending.

ADDRESSES: Comments concerning this inquiry and notice should be 
submitted to Joseph F. Schive, Enforcement Planning, Targeting and Data 
Division (MC 2222A), Office of Compliance, Office of Enforcement and 
Compliance Assurance, Environmental Protection Agency, Room 5146A, 1200 
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joseph F. Schive, 202-564-4156.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The three types of documents subject to the 
document requests are the notification of intent to export (NOI) (part 
262, subpart E) or notification (part 262, subpart H), submitted to EPA 
in accordance with 40 CFR 262.53 and 262.83, respectively; the 
manifest,\1\ a copy of which is given to the United States Customs 
Service on leaving the United States, in accordance with 40 CFR 
263.20(g)(4), and is then forwarded by Customs to EPA; and the annual 
report, submitted to EPA in accordance with 40 CFR 262.56 or 
262.87(a).\2\
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    \1\ Section 260.10 defines ``manifest'' as ``the shipping 
document EPA form 8700-22 and, if necessary, EPA form 8700-22A, 
originated and signed by the generator in accordance with the 
instructions included in the appendix to part 262.''
    \2\ Other documents contained in the database, including 
renotifications (40 CFR 262.53(c)), transit notifications, 
acknowledgments of consent (id. Sec.  262.53(f)), and exception 
reports (id. Sec. Sec.  262.56 and 262.87(b)), also involve the same 
parties and some of the same types of information. To the extent the 
parties and information overlap, this inquiry and notice will 
provide the opportunity to claim confidential business information 
treatment for these documents as well.
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    For the purposes of this notice, submitters of NOIs, notifications, 
manifests and annual reports shall be referred to as ``submitters,'' 
and non-submitters which might be expected to assert a claim of 
business confidentiality because their information also is contained in 
the database or the requested documents shall be referred to as ``other 
affected businesses.'' The types of businesses which comprise the 
category of submitters are the primary exporters \3\ (NOI and annual 
report) and notifiers \4\ (notification and annual report), and the 
generators \5\ (manifest). The two types of businesses included in the 
category of other affected businesses are the transporters \6\ of 
hazardous waste; and the consignees \7\ (and alternate consignees) 
under subpart E, or consignees \8\ and recovery facilities \9\ under 
subpart H. The latter are located outside the United States, in the 
receiving or importing countries. Thus, affected businesses may include 
foreign business entities, as well as domestic businesses.
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    \3\ Section 262.51 defines ``primary exporter'' as ``any person 
who is required to originate the manifest for a shipment of 
hazardous waste in accordance with 40 CFR part 262, subpart B, or 
equivalent State provision, which specifies a treatment, storage or 
disposal facility in a receiving country as the facility to which 
the hazardous waste will be sent and any intermediary arranging for 
the export.''
    \4\ Section 262.81 defines ``notifier'' as ``the person under 
the jurisdiction of the exporting country which has, or will have at 
the time the planned transfrontier movement commences, possession or 
other forms of legal control of the wastes and who proposes their 
transfrontier movement for the ultimate purpose of submitting them 
to recovery operations. When the United States (U.S.) is the 
exporting country, notifier is interpreted to mean a person 
domiciled in the U.S.''
    \5\ Section 260.10 defines ``generator'' as ``any person, by 
site, whose act or process produces hazardous waste identified or 
listed in part 261 of this chapter or whose act first causes a 
hazardous waste to become subject to regulation.''
    \6\ Section 260.10 defines ``transporter'' as ``a person engaged 
in the offsite transportation of hazardous waste by air, rail, 
highway or water.''
    \7\ Section 262.51 defines ``consignee'' for purposes of subpart 
F as ``the ultimate treatment, storage or disposal facility in a 
receiving country to which the hazardous waste will be sent.''
    \8\ Section 262.83 defines ``consignee'' for purposes of subpart 
H as ``the person to whom possession or other form of legal control 
of the waste is assigned at the time the waste is received in the 
importing country.''
    \9\ Section 262.83 defines ``recovery facility'' as ``an entity 
which, under applicable domestic law, is operating or is authorized 
to operate in the importing country to receive wastes and to perform 
recovery operations on them.''
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    The submitters of the documents sought in the FOIA requests did not 
assert a claim of business confidentiality covering part or all of that 
information. As set forth in the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act 
(RCRA) regulations, at 40 CFR 260.2(b), ``if no such claim accompanies 
the information when it is received by EPA, it may be made available to 
the public without further notice to the person submitting it.'' 
Moreover, as EPA pointed out in the preambles to the proposed and final 
RCRA export rules, 51 FR 8744 (March 13, 1986) and 51 FR 28644 (August 
8, 1986), respectively, EPA does not believe that notification 
information and also manifest information generally are entitled to 
treatment as confidential business information. Nevertheless, EPA is 
mindful of the fact that the cited provision must be read in 
conjunction with the protection which the FOIA regulations afford other 
affected businesses.

[[Page 71963]]

1. Other Affected Businesses

    EPA regulations regarding FOIA requirements, at 40 CFR 2.204(c)(1), 
require an EPA office which is responsible for responding to a request 
under 5 U.S.C. 552 for the release of business information (EPA office) 
``to determine which businesses, if any are affected businesses (see 
Sec.  2.201(d)) * * *'' ``Affected business'' is defined at Sec.  
2.201(d) as

``* * * 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.''

    EPA has furnished, to those persons whose request for release of 
information is pending under 5 U.S.C. 552, a determination (in 
accordance with 40 CFR 2.113) that the information may be entitled to 
confidential treatment under this subpart and 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4), that 
further inquiry by EPA pursuant to this subpart is required before a 
final determination on the request can be issued, that the persons' 
requests are therefore initially denied, and that after inquiry a final 
determination will be issued by an EPA legal office. 40 CFR 
2.204(d)(1)(ii).

2. The Purposes of This Notice

    This notice encompasses two distinct steps in the process of 
communication with other affected businesses: the preliminary inquiry 
and the notice of opportunity to comment.

a. Inquiry to Learn Whether Other Affected Businesses Assert Claims 
Covering the Information

    Section 2.204(c)(2) provides:

    If the examination conducted under paragraph (c)(1) of this 
section discloses the existence of any business which, although it 
has not asserted a claim, might be expected to assert a claim if it 
knew EPA proposed to disclose the information, the EPA official 
shall contact a responsible official of each such business to learn 
whether the business asserts a claim covering the information.

b. Notice of Opportunity To Submit Comments

    Sections 2.204(d)(1)(i) and 2.204(e) require that written notice be 
provided to businesses stating that EPA is determining under this 
subpart whether the information is entitled to confidential treatment, 
and affording the businesses an opportunity to comment.

3. The Use of Publication in the Federal Register

    Section 2.0204(e)(1) requires that this type of notice be furnished 
by certified mail (return receipt requested), by personal delivery, or 
by other means which allows verification of the fact and date of 
receipt. EPA, however, has determined that in the present circumstances 
the use of a Federal Register notice is the only practical and 
efficient way to contact other affected businesses and to furnish the 
notice of opportunity to submit comments. Its determination to follow 
this course was made in recognition of the large number of businesses 
included in the pertinent universe. EPA estimates that there are 
approximately 400 other affected businesses, including approximately 
100 transporters, 150 consignees and alternate consignees under subpart 
E, and 150 consignees and recovery facilities under subpart H. 
Employment of publication in the Federal Register also dispenses with 
orally informing a responsible representative of the business that it 
should expect to receive a written notice, and requesting the business 
to contact the EPA office if the written notice has not been received 
within a few days, so that EPA may furnish a duplicate notice. 40 CFR 
2.204(e)(3).

4. Submission of Your Response in the English Language

    All responses to this notice must be in the English language.

5. The Effect of Failure To Respond to This Notice

    In accordance with 40 CFR 2.204(e), EPA will construe your failure 
to furnish timely comments as a waiver of the business's claim.

6. What To Include in Your Comments

    If you feel that some or all of the information contained in the 
two types of documents which are subject to FOIA requests is entitled 
to confidential treatment, please specify which portions of the 
information you consider confidential. Information not specifically 
identified as subject to a confidentiality claim will be disclosed to 
the requestor without further notice to you.
    For each item or class of information that you identify as being 
subject to your claim, please answer the following questions:
    1. For what period of time do you request that the information be 
maintained as confidential? If the occurrence of a specific event will 
eliminate the need for confidentiality, please specify that event.
    2. Information submitted to EPA becomes stale over time. Why should 
the information you claim as confidential be protected for the time 
period specified in your answer to question no. 1?
    3. What measures have you taken to protect the information claimed 
as confidential?
    Have you disclosed the information to anyone other than a 
governmental body or someone who is bound by an agreement not to 
disclose the information further?
    If so, why should the information still be considered confidential?
    4. Has any governmental body made a determination as to the 
confidentiality of the information? If so, please attach a copy of the 
determination.
    5. Is the information contained in any publicly available material 
such as promotional publications, annual reports, articles, etc.? Is 
there any means by which a member of the public could obtain access to 
the information?
    6. For each category of information claimed as confidential, 
discuss with specificity why release of the information is likely to 
cause substantial harm to your competitive position. Explain the nature 
of those harmful effects, why they should be viewed as substantial, and 
the causal relationship between disclosure and such harmful effects. 
How could your competitors make use of this information to your 
detriment?
    7. Do you assert that the information is ``voluntarily submitted'' 
as defined at 40 CFR 2.201(i)? If so, explain why, and how disclosure 
would tend to lessen EPA's ability to obtain similar information in the 
future.
    8. Any other issue you deem relevant.
    Please note that you bear the burden of substantiating your 
confidentiality claim pursuant to 40 CFR 2.208(e). Conclusory 
allegations will be given little or no weight in the determination. If 
you wish to claim any of the information in your response as 
confidential, you must mark the response ``CONFIDENTIAL'' or with a 
similar designation, and must bracket all text so claimed. Information 
so designated will be disclosed by EPA only to the extent allowed by, 
and by means of the procedures set forth in 40 CFR part 2. If you fail 
to claim the information as confidential upon submission it may be made 
available to the public without further notice to you.

    Dated: November 22, 2002.
Michael M. Stahl,
Director, Office of Compliance.
[FR Doc. 02-30597 Filed 12-2-02; 8:45 am]
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