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9 FOIA Update 1 (1988)

handle is hein.journals/foiaupd9 and id is 1 raw text is: U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legal Policy Office of Information and Privacy Vol. EX, No.1 Winter 1988 FOTA UPDATE NewFFOIA Leglislation Proposed IJ1-Thinote U.S. Competitiveness A new Freedom of Information Act legislative proposal, one aimed at obtaining special protec- tion for ccmmercially valuable scientific and technical information generated within government laboratories, has been put forward by the Admin- istration. Part of a recently proposed legislative pack- age entitled the Superconductivity Competitive- ness Act of 1988, this FOIA provision would take the form of an Exemption 3 statute designed to afford federal agencies the authority to withhold government-generated data regarding such critical technologies as superconductivity where FOIA dis- closure could harm the economic competitiveness of the United States. Recent scientific break- throughs in the field of superconductivity -- the phenomenon of electrical conduction without re- sistance -- have heightened concern over protect- ing United States technology in such cormercially valuable research fields. The proposed legislation, which has not yet been formally introduced in Congress, is being advanced by the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), in furtherance of an eleven-point program announced by the President last summr to promote U.S. competitiveness in superconductivity research and comaercialization. The OSTP Director, White House Science Advisor Dr. William R. Graham, Jr., already has given congres- sional testimony supporting the need for greater FOIA protection in this area. The proposed Exemption 3 provision, included under the heading Scientific and Technical Infor- mation Protection, seeks to establish special FOIA protection for any scientific or technical information that (1) was generated in a labora- tory . owned and operated, in whole or in part, by the Federal Government, (2) has com- mercial value, and (3) if disclosed under the FOIA, could be reasonably expected to cause harm to the economic competitiveness of the United States. As is explained in the section-by-section analysis accompanying the legislative proposal, this provision is intended to promote United States competitiveness in supercorductivity and other ccmercial technologies resulting from recent scientific advances by enabling agencies to withhold commercially valuable information when disclosure could adversely affect United States economic competitiveness. It thus would remove the risk that federal agencies would be required to publicly disclose commercially valu- able scientific or technical information under the Freedom of Information Act that is generated by the federal goverrnment. Although this proposed FOIA legislation is more narrowly focused than many previous FOIA amendment proposals, it already has been the sub- ject of some controversy and critical attention. There seems to be considerable disagreement with- in the academic commuinity as to whether the data protection sought through the proposal would actually promote U.S. research efforts and com- petitiveness in advanced technological fields. Some academics have expressed the concern that restrictions on the dissemination of valuable technology could have the effect of impeding research efforts. Such concerns surfaced at a recent Senate subcomittee hearing held on the general subject of information policy and competitiveness. On March 16, the Senate Judiciary Comittee's Sub- committee on Technology and the Law, chaired by Cont'd cn next page The four center pages of this issue of FOIA Udate contain an updated list of the principal FOIA legal and administrative contacts at federal agencies. Digitized from Best Copy Available

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