22 U.S.C. § 6744 — Confidentiality of information

(a) Freedom of Information Act exemption for certain Convention^* information Except as provided in subsection (b) or (c), confidential business information, as defined in section 6713(g) of this title, that the United States^* Government receives or otherwise acquires under this chapter or the Convention must not be disclosed under section 552(a) of title 5.

(b) Exceptions
(1) Information for the Technical Secretariat^* Information must be disclosed or otherwise provided to the Technical Secretariat or other states parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention^* as required by the Convention, especially the Annex on the Protection of Confidential Information.

(2) Information for Congress Information must be made available to any congressional committee or subcommittee with appropriate jurisdiction when its chairman^* or ranking minority member makes a written request. However, the committee or subcommittee, and its members and staff members, must not disclose that information or material except as otherwise required or authorized by law.

(3) Information for enforcement actions Information must be disclosed to other Federal agencies to enforce this chapter or any other law. It must also be disclosed or otherwise provided when relevant to a proceeding under this chapter or any other law. In that proceeding, the disclosure or provision must be made in a way that preserves confidentiality as far as practicable without harming the proceeding.

(c) Information disclosed in national interest
(1) Authority The United States Government must disclose information, including categories of information, that was reported to it or otherwise required by it under this chapter or the Convention if the Government decides that disclosure is in the national interest. It may specify the form in which the information must be disclosed.

(2) Notice of disclosure
(A) Requirement If a Department or agency of the United States Government proposes under paragraph (1) to publish, disclose, or otherwise provide information that subsection (a) exempts from disclosure, the United States National Authority must, unless national-security or law-enforcement needs make notice contrary to those needs, give notice of its intent to disclose the information—

(i) to the person who submitted the information; and

(ii) if the information about a person came from another source, to the person to whom the information relates.

The information may not be disclosed until 30 days after notice under this paragraph has been given.

(B) Proceedings on objections If the person to whom the information relates objects to disclosure, the agency must promptly review each ground for the objection and give the objecting person a hearing to present the objections. No later than 10 days before the scheduled or rescheduled disclosure date, the United States National Authority must notify that person whether the disclosure will occur despite the objections.

(d) Criminal penalty for wrongful disclosure A current or former United States officer or employee who obtained or can access information through that employment or official position, when subsection (a) prohibits disclosing or otherwise providing the information, and who knowingly and willfully discloses or otherwise provides it in any way to an unauthorized person, including a person outside the United States, must be fined under title 18, imprisoned for not more than five years, or both.

(e) Criminal forfeiture The property of a person who violates subsection (d) is subject to forfeiture to the United States in the same way and to the same extent as provided in section 229C of title 18.

(f) International inspectors This section also applies to employees of the Technical Secretariat.