A Commission employee or former employee shall not divulge, or cause or allow to be divulged, confidential or non-public commercial, economic or official information to any unauthorized person, or release such information in advance of authorization for its release. 9 Except as directed by the Commission or its General Counsel as provided in these regulations, no Commission employee or former employee is authorized to accept service of any subpoena for documentary information contained in or relating to the files of the Commission. Any employee or former employee who is served with a subpoena requiring testimony regarding non-public information or documents shall, unless the Commission authorizes the disclosure of such information, respectfully decline to disclose the information or produce the documents called for, basing his refusal on these regulations. 10 Any employee or former employee who is served with a subpoena calling for information regarding the Commission’s business shall promptly advise the General Counsel of the service of such subpoena, the nature of the information or documents sought, and any circumstances which may bear upon the desirability of making such information or document available in the public interest. 11 In any proceeding in which the Commission is not a party, no employee of the Commission shall testify concerning matters related to the business of the Commission unless authorized to do so by the Commission.

9 Attention is directed to section 9(d) of the Commodity Exchange Act, which provides that it shall be a felony punishable by a fine of not more than $500,000 or imprisonment for not more than five years, or both, together with the costs of prosecution—(1) for any Commissioner of the Commission or any employee or agent thereof who, by virtue of his employment or position, acquires information which may affect or tend to affect the price of any commodity future or commodity and which information has not been promptly made public, to impart such information with intent to assist another person, directly or indirectly, to participate in any transaction in commodity futures, any transaction in an actual commodity, or in any transaction of the character of or which is commonly known to the trade as an option, privilege, indemnity, bid, offer, put, call, advance guaranty or decline guaranty, or in any transaction for the delivery of any commodity under a standardized contract commonly known to the trade as a margin account, margin contract, leverage account or leverage contract, or under any contract or other arrangement that the Commission determines to serve the same function or is marketed in the same manner as such standardized contract, and (2) for any person to acquire such information from any Commissioner of the Commission or any employee or agent thereof and to use such information in any of the foregoing transactions.

10 No employee shall disclose such information unless directed to do so by the Commission.

11 The prohibitions regarding confidential or nonpublic information stated above are intended to cover the matters addressed in sections 4(c), 8, and 9(d) of the Commodity Exchange Act as well as nonpublic information under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552, the rules of the Commission thereunder, 17 CFR part 145, the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a, the rules of the Commission thereunder, 17 CFR part 146, and cases where, apart from specific prohibitions in any statute or rule, the disclosure or use of such information would be unethical.

[58 FR 52658, Oct. 12, 1993]