Claims of confidentiality must be made in accordance with the procedures described in 40 CFR part 703, except as modified in this paragraph. In general, references to “chemical” or “chemical identity” in part 703 are equivalent to “microorganism” or “microorganism identity” for the purposes of this part.

(a) In place of § 703.5(b)(3)(v) of this subchapter, the following question must be answered: Has EPA, another Federal agency, or court made any confidentiality determination regarding information associated with this microorganism? If yes, please provide the circumstances associated with the prior determination, whether the information was found to be entitled to confidential treatment, the entity that made the decision, and the date of the determination.

(b) In place of § 703.5(b)(4) of this subchapter, the following questions apply:

(1) Has the identity of the microorganism been kept confidential to the extent that competitors do not know it is being manufactured or imported into US commerce? If not, explain why the microorganism identity should still be afforded confidential status (e.g., the microorganism is publicly known only as being distributed in commerce for research and development purposes, but no other information about the current commercial distribution of the microorganism in the United States is publicly available).

(2) Does the microorganism leave the site of production or testing in a form which is accessible to the public or to competitors? If yes, please explain what measures have been taken to guard against the discovery of its identity. Further, what is the cost to a competitor, in time and money, to develop appropriate use conditions? What factors facilitate or impede product analysis?

(a) Assertion of claim. A person who submits information to EPA under this part on the categories or proposed categories of use of a microorganism may assert a claim of confidentiality for this information.

(b) Requirements for claim. A submitter that asserts such a claim must:

(1) Report the categories or proposed categories of use of the microorganism.

(2) Provide, in nonconfidential form, a description of the uses that is only as generic as necessary to protect the confidential business information. The generic use description will be included in the Federal Register notice described in § 725.40.

(c) Generic use description. The person must submit the information required by paragraph (b) of this section by describing the uses as precisely as possible, without revealing the information which is claimed confidential, to disclose as much as possible how the use may result in human exposure to the microorganism or its release to the environment.

All information submitted, including any health and safety study of a microorganism and other supporting documentation, will become part of the public file for that submission, unless such materials are claimed as confidential in accordance with this section. In addition, EPA may add materials to the public file, subject to subpart C of this part. Publicly available materials are available at the docket addresses in § 700.17(b)(1) and (2) of this subchapter and on EPA's website.