Sec. 1.731  Confidentiality of information produced through discovery.

    (a) Any materials generated or provided by a party in response to 
discovery may be designated as proprietary by that party if the party 
believes in good faith that the materials fall within an exemption to 
disclosure contained in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 
552(b)(1)-(9). Any party asserting confidentiality for such materials 
shall so indicate by clearly marking each page, or portion thereof, for 
which a proprietary designation is claimed. If a proprietary designation 
is challenged, the party claiming confidentiality shall have the burden 
of demonstrating, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the material 
designated as proprietary falls under the standards for nondisclosure 
enunciated in the FOIA.
    (b) Materials marked as proprietary may be disclosed solely to the 
following persons, only for use in prosecuting or defending a party to 
the complaint action, and only to the extent necessary to assist in the 
prosecution or defense of the case:
    (1) Counsel of record representing the parties in the complaint 
action and any support personnel employed by such attorneys;
    (2) Officers or employees of the opposing party who are named by the 
opposing party as being directly involved in the prosecution or defense 
of the case;
    (3) Consultants or expert witnesses retained by the parties;
    (4) The Commission and its staff; and
    (5) Court reporters and stenographers in accordance with the terms 
and conditions of this section.
    (c) These individuals shall not disclose information designated as 
proprietary to any person who is not authorized under this section to 
receive such information, and shall not use the information in any 
activity or function other than the prosecution or defense in the case 
before the Commission. Each individual who is provided access to the 
information shall sign a notarized statement affirmatively stating that 
the individual has personally reviewed the Commission's rules and 
understands the limitations they impose on the signing party.
    (d) No copies of materials marked proprietary may be made except 
copies to be used by persons designated in paragraph (b) of this 
section. Each party shall maintain a log recording the number of copies 
made of all proprietary material and the persons to whom the copies have 
been provided.
    (e) Upon termination of a formal complaint proceeding, including all 
appeals and petitions, all originals and reproductions of any 
proprietary materials, along with the log recording persons who received 
copies of such materials, shall be provided to the producing party. In 
addition, upon final termination of the complaint proceeding, any notes 
or other work product derived in whole or in part from the proprietary 
materials of an opposing or third party shall be destroyed.
[ 58 FR 25573 , Apr. 27, 1993]