N.J. Admin. Code § 8:59-3.4

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 23, December 2, 2024

Section 8:59-3.4 - General provisions

(a) Except as provided in 8:59-3.15, the DOH/DEP shall not disclose any trade secret claim and supporting information that is pending or has been approved.

(b) An employer shall report the information for which a trade secret claim is being made to the appropriate DOH/DEP in accordance with 8:59-3.6 ( 7:1G-6.6), or maintain this information in accordance with the provisions of 8:59-3.6.

(c) On the Right to Know Survey and the environmental survey which the employer sends to county and local government agencies and which the employer retains on file at the facility for inspection by an enforcement officer or employees, the employer shall conceal or omit information claimed to be a trade secret, and shall note on the surveys where information has been claimed to be a trade secret.

(d) Any Right to Know Survey or environmental survey shall only be made available to the public with trade secret information concealed as required in subsection (c) above indicating pending or approved trade secret claim status.

(e) All documents containing the information claimed to be a trade secret and supporting information shall be submitted to the DOH/DEP by certified mail return receipt requested, by personal delivery, or by other means that requires verification of receipt, the date of receipt, and the name of the person who receives the document at the DOH/DEP. Such documents concerning the Right to Know Survey or labeling of containers shall be mailed or delivered to:

Manager, Right to Know Unit

Environmental and Occupational Health Assessment Program

Division of Epidemiology, Environmental and Occupational Health

New Jersey Department of Health

PO Box 368

Trenton, NJ 08625-0368

Such documents concerning the environmental survey shall be mailed or delivered to:

Chief, Office of Pollution Prevention and Right to Know

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection

Mail Code 22-03C

401 East State Street

PO Box 420

Trenton, NJ 08625- 0420

(f) The top of each page of any document containing the information for which a trade secret claim is being made and submitted pursuant to (e) above, shall display the word "CONFIDENTIAL" in bold type or stamp. If the documents submitted in support of the trade secret claim are to be kept confidential, they shall be similarly stamped.

(g) The outside of the envelope containing the information claimed to be a trade secret and any other envelopes containing information in support of such claim submitted pursuant to (e) above, shall display the word "CONFIDENTIAL" in bold type on both sides. This envelope shall be enclosed in a plain envelope addressed for mailing.

(h) The DOH/DEP shall determine the validity of a trade secret claim when a request is made by any person for the disclosure of the information for which the trade secret claim was made and at any time that the DOH/DEP deems appropriate. The employer shall be notified before the DOH/DEP makes its determination and shall be provided 30 days to submit any information pursuant to 8:59-3.6 except when the employer has filed a trade secret claim prohibited by 8:59-3.5. The DOH/DEP shall make its determination on a trade secret claim in accordance with the criteria in 8:59-3.9. The DOH/DEP may approve a trade secret claim based on information provided pursuant to 8:59-3.6.

(i) The DOH/DEP may revoke an approved trade secret claim upon the receipt of new information from any person regarding the information previously submitted by an employer pursuant to 8:59-3.6. In the event of such revocation, 8:59-3.11 and 3.13 shall apply in the same manner as where the DOH/DEP rejects a trade secret claim.

(j) Nothing in these regulations shall be construed as prohibiting the incorporation of trade secret information into cumulations of data subject to disclosure as public records, provided that such disclosure is not in a form that would foreseeably allow persons outside the DOH/DEP, not otherwise having knowledge of such information, to deduce from it the trade secret information, or the identity of the employer who supplied it to the DOH/DEP.

(k) Any failure by an employer to submit additional information relevant to the trade secret claim requested by the DOH/DEP or to allow inspection of its facility by the DOH/DEP for purposes of determining the validity of a trade secret claim shall constitute valid cause for denial of the trade secret claim.

(l) Compliance with this subchapter does not constitute satisfaction of Federal trade secret claim requirements for substances exceeding the Federal reporting thresholds of Title III of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act.

N.J. Admin. Code § 8:59-3.4

Amended by 50 N.J.R. 1036(a), effective 3/19/2018