§ 350.7 Substantiating claims of trade secrecy.

(a) Claims of trade secrecy must be substantiated by providing a specific answer including, where applicable, specific facts, to each of the following questions with submission to which the trade secrecy claim pertains. Submitters must answer these questions on the form entitled “Substantiation to Accompany Claims of Trade Secrecy.” The form and instructions are posted on the EPA program websites, http://www.epa.gov/epcra and http://www.epa.gov/tri/rfi.

(1) Describe the specific measures you have taken to safeguard the confidentiality of the chemical identity claimed as trade secret, and indicate whether these measures will continue in the future.

(2) Have you disclosed the information claimed as trade secret to any other person (other than a member of a local emergency planning committee, officer or employee of the United States or a State or local government, or your employee) who is not bound by a confidentiality agreement to refrain from disclosing this trade secret information to others?

(3) List all local, State, and Federal government entities to which you have disclosed the specific chemical identity. For each, indicate whether you asserted a confidentiality claim for the chemical identity and whether the government entity denied that claim.

(4) In order to show the validity of a trade secrecy claim, you must identify your specific use of the chemical claimed as trade secret and explain why it is a secret of interest to competitors. Therefore:

(i) Describe the specific use of the chemical claimed as trade secret, identifying the product or process in which it is used. (If you use the chemical other than as a component of a product or in a manufacturing process, identify the activity where the chemical is used.)