Inquiry To Learn Whether Businesses Assert Business Confidentiality Claims Regarding Waste Import and Export

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) occasionally receives Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for documentation received or issued by EPA or data contained in EPA database systems pertaining to the export and import of Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) hazardous waste from/to the United States, the export of cathode ray tubes (CRTs), the export and import of spent lead acid batteries (SLABs) from the United States, and the export and import of RCRA universal waste from/to the United States. The purpose of this notice is to inform ``affected businesses'' about the documents or data sought by these types of FOIA requests in order to provide the businesses with the opportunity to assert claims that any of the information sought that pertains to them is entitled to treatment as confidential business information (CBI), and to send comments to EPA supporting their claims for such treatment. ``Affected businesses'' are businesses identified or referenced in the documents that were submitted to EPA by the submitting business which may have a right to assert a CBI claim concerning information that pertains to them and may do so in response to this notice. Certain businesses, however, do not meet the definition of ``affected business,'' and are not covered by today's notice. They consist of any business that actually submitted to EPA any document at issue pursuant to applicable RCRA regulatory requirements and did not assert a CBI claim as to information that pertains to that business in connection with the document at the time of its submission; they have waived their right to do so at a later time. This notice also serves to inform the public that based on the Confidentiality Determinations for Hazardous Waste Export and Import Documents, EPA-HQ-OLEM-2016-0492, published on December 26, 2017 (Confidentiality Rule), this is the last time EPA will be publishing the Federal Register Notice ``Inquiry to Learn Whether Businesses Assert Business Confidentiality Claims.'' Effective June 26, 2018, the Confidentiality Rule applies a confidentiality determination such that no person can assert confidential business information (CBI) claims for documents related to the export, import, and transit of hazardous waste, including those hazardous waste managed under the alternate standards, and excluded cathode ray tubes (CRTs). Therefore, publication of this Federal Register notice will no longer be needed since ``affected businesses'' will no longer be able to claim CBI on any documents on which they are listed.