(a) Foreign Service Labor Relations Board/General Counsel of the Federal Labor Relations Authority. (1) It is the policy of the Foreign Service Labor Relations Board and the General Counsel of the Federal Labor Relations Authority to make available for public inspection and copying: (i) Final decisions and orders of the Board and administrative rulings of the General Counsel; (ii) statements of policy and interpretations which have been adopted by the Board or by the General Counsel and are not published in the Federal Register; and (iii) administrative staff manuals and instructions to staff that affect a member of the public (except those establishing internal operating rules, guidelines, and procedures for the investigation, trial, and settlement of cases). Any person may examine and copy items in paragraphs (a)(1) (i) through (iii) of this section at each regional office of the Authority and at the offices of the Authority and the General Counsel, respectively, in Washington, DC, under conditions prescribed by the Board and the General Counsel, respectively, and at reasonable times during normal working hours so long as it does not interfere with the efficient operations of the Authority, the Board and the General Counsel. To the extent required to prevent a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, identifying details may be deleted and, in each case, the justification for the deletion shall be fully explained in writing.

(2) It is the policy of the Board and the General Counsel to make promptly available for public inspection and copying, upon request by any person, other records where the request reasonably describes such records and otherwise conforms with the rules provided herein.

(b) Foreign Service Impasse Disputes Panel. (1) It is the policy of the Foreign Service Impasse Disputes Panel to make available for public inspection and copying: (i) Procedural determinations of the Panel; (ii) factfinding and arbitration reports; (iii) final decisions and orders of the Panel; (iv) statements of policy and interpretations which have been adopted by the Panel and are not published in the Federal Register; and (v) administrative staff manuals and instructions to staff that affect a member of the public. Any person may examine and copy items in paragraphs (b)(1)(i) through (v) of this section at the offices of the Federal Service Impasses Panel in Washington, DC, under conditions prescribed by the Panel, and at reasonable times during normal working hours so long as it does not interfere with the efficient operations of the Federal Service Impasses Panel and the Panel. To the extent required to prevent a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, identifying details may be deleted and, in each case, the justification for the deletion shall be fully explained in writing.

(2) It is the policy of the Panel to make promptly available for public inspection and copying, upon request by any person, other records where the request reasonably describes such records and otherwise conforms with the rules provided herein.

(c) The Board, the General Counsel and the Panel shall maintain and make available for public inspection and copying the current indexes and supplements thereto which are required by 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(2) and, as appropriate, a record of the final votes of each member of the Board and of the Panel in every agency proceeding. Any person may examine and copy such document or record of the Board, the General Counsel or the Panel at the offices of the Authority, the General Counsel, or the Federal Service Impasses Panel, as appropriate, in Washington, DC, under conditions prescribed by the Board, the General Counsel or the Panel at reasonable times during normal working hours so long as it does not interfere with the efficient operations of the Authority, the Board, the General Counsel, the Federal Service Impasses Panel, or the Panel.

(d) The Board, the General Counsel or the Panel may decline to disclose any matters exempted from the disclosure requirements in 5 U.S.C. 552(b), particularly those that are:

(1)(i) Specifically authorized under criteria established by an executive order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy and (ii) are in fact properly classified pursuant to such executive order;

(2) Related solely to internal personnel rules and practices of the Authority, the General Counsel or the Federal Service Impasses Panel;

(3) Specifically exempted from disclosure by statute (other than 5 U.S.C. 552(b)): Provided, That such statute:

(i) Requires that the matters be withheld from the public in such a manner as to leave no discretion on the issue; or

(ii) Establishes particular criteria for withholding or refers to particular types of matters to be withheld;

(4) Trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential;

(5) Interagency or intra-agency memoranda or letters which would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency;

(6) Personnel and medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy; or

(7) Investigatory records compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that the production of such records would:

(i) Interfere with an enforcement proceeding;

(ii) Deprive a person of a right to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication;

(iii) Constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;

(iv) Disclose the identity of a confidential source and, in the case of a record compiled by a criminal law enforcement authority in the course of a criminal investigation, or by an agency conducting a lawful national security intelligence investigation, confidential information furnished only by the confidential source;

(v) Disclose investigative techniques and procedures; or

(vi) Endanger the life or physical safety of law enforcement personnel.

(e)(1) The formal documents constituting the record in a case or proceeding are matters of official record and, until destroyed pursuant to applicable statutory authority, are available to the public for inspection and copying at the appropriate regional office of the Authority, or the offices of the Authority, the General Counsel or the Federal Service Impasses Panel in Washington, DC, as appropriate, under conditions prescribed by the Authority, the General Counsel or the Federal Service Impasses Panel at reasonable times during normal working hours so long as it does not interfere with the efficient operations of the Authority, the General Counsel or the Federal Service Impasses Panel.

(2) The Board, the General Counsel or the Panel, as appropriate, shall certify copies of the formal documents upon request made a reasonable time in advance of need and payment of lawfully prescribed costs.

(f)(1) Copies of forms prescribed by the Board for the filing of charges and petitions may be obtained without charge from any regional office of the Authority.

(2) Copies of forms prescribed by the Panel for the filing of requests may be obtained without charge from the offices of the Federal Service Impasses Panel in Washington, DC.