The provisions of this section apply both to any information you send us and to any information we collect from inspections, audits, or other site visits.

(a) When you submit information to us, if you claim any of that information as confidential, you may identify what you claim to be confidential by marking, circling, bracketing, stamping, or some other method; however, we will not consider any claims of confidentiality over information we have determined to be not entitled to confidential treatment under § 1068.11 or other applicable provisions.

(b) If you send us information without claiming it is confidential, we may make it available to the public without further notice to you, as described in 40 CFR 2.301(j).

(c) For submissions that include information that may be entitled to confidential treatment, we may require that you send a “public” copy of the report that does not include the confidential information. We may require that you substantiate your claim to confidential treatment for any items not contained in the public version. We will release additional information from the complete version of such a submission only as allowed under 40 CFR 2.301(j) and as described in this subpart and the standard-setting part.

(d) We will safeguard your confidential business information (CBI) as described in 40 CFR 2.301(j). Also, we will treat certain information as confidential and will only disclose this information if it has been determined to be not entitled to confidential treatment as specified in § 1068.11(c). The following general provisions describe how we will process requests for making information publicly available:

(1) Certification information. We will treat information submitted in an application for certification as confidential until the introduction-into-commerce date you identify in your application for certification consistent with 40 CFR 2.301(a)(2)(ii)(B). If you do not identify an introduction-into-commerce date or if we issue the certificate after your specified date, we will treat information submitted in an application for certification as described in § 1068.11 after the date we issue the certificate.

(2) Preliminary and superseded information. Preliminary and superseded versions of information you submit are covered by confidentiality determinations in the same manner as final documents. However, we will generally not disclose preliminary or superseded information unless we receive a request under 5 U.S.C. § 552 that specifically asks for all versions of a document, including preliminary and superseded versions. We will consider a document preliminary if we have not reviewed it to verify its accuracy or if the reporting deadline has not yet passed. We will consider information superseded if you submit a new document or a revised application for certification to replace the earlier version.

(3) Authorizing CBI disclosure. The provisions of this section do not prevent us from disclosing protected information if you specifically authorize it.

(4) Relationship to the standard-setting part. The standard-setting part may identify additional provisions related to confidentiality determinations. Note that the standard-setting part identifies information requirements that apply for each type of engine/equipment. If this section identifies information that is not required for a given engine, that does not create a requirement to submit the information.

(5) Changes in law. The confidentiality determinations in this section and in the standard-setting parts may be changed through the processes described in 40 CFR 2.301(j)(4).

[88 FR 4712, Jan. 24, 2023]