9VAC5-91-150. Availability of information.
A. Emissions data in the possession of the department shall be available to the public without exception.
B. Any other records, reports or information in the possession of the department shall be available to the public with the following exception:
The department shall consider such records, reports or information, or particular part thereof, confidential in accordance with the Virginia Uniform Trade Secrets Act (§ 59.1-336 et seq. of the Code of Virginia) upon a showing satisfactory to the department by any station owner that such records, reports or information, or particular part thereof, meet the criteria in subsection C of this section and the station owner provides a certification to that effect signed by a responsible person for such owner. Such records, reports or information, or particular part thereof, may be disclosed, however, to other officers, employees or authorized representatives of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency concerned with carrying out the provisions of the Motor Vehicle Emissions Control Law and the federal Clean Air Act.
C. In order to be exempt from disclosure to the public under subsection B of this section, the information must satisfy the following criteria:
1. Information for which the station owner has been taking and will continue to take measures to protect confidentiality;
2. Information that has not been and is not presently reasonably obtainable without the consent of the station owner or motor vehicle owner by private citizens or other firms through legitimate means other than discovery based on a showing of special need in a judicial or quasi-judicial proceeding;
3. Information which is not publicly available from sources other than the station owner; and
4. Information the disclosure of which would cause substantial harm to the station owner.
Statutory Authority
§§ 46.2-1178.1, 46.2-1179, 46.2-1180, and 46.2-1187.2 of the Code of Virginia.
Historical Notes
Derived from Virginia Register Volume 13, Issue 5, eff. January 24, 1997.