Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 50, December 13, 2024
Section 22-4-9 - Exemptions9.1. The Act provides that the Division may exempt the following from disclosure: 9.1.a. Trade secrets, as used in this section, which may include, but are not limited to, any formula, plan, pattern, process, tool, mechanism, compounds, procedure, production data, or compilation of information that is not patented and is known only to certain individuals within a commercial concern who are using it to fabricate, produce or compound an article or trade or a service or to locate minerals or other substances, having commercial value, and that gives its users an opportunity to obtain business advantage over competitors; provided that in no case shall effluent data submitted pursuant to West Virginia Code, Chapter 19, Article 1A be considered exempt from disclosure;9.1.b. Information of a personal nature, such as that kept in a personal, medical or similar file, if the public disclosure thereof would constitute an unreasonable invasion of privacy, unless the public interest by clear and convincing evidence requires disclosure in the particular instance: Provided, that nothing in this rule shall be construed as precluding an individual from inspecting or copying his or her own personal, personnel, medical or similar file;9.1.c. Test questions, scoring keys and other examination data used to administer a licensing examination, examination for employment or academic examination;9.1.d. Records of law enforcement agencies that deal with the detection and investigation of crime and the internal records and notations of such law enforcement agencies that are maintained for internal use in matters relating to law enforcement;9.1.e. Information specifically exempted from disclosure by statute;9.1.f. Records, archives, documents or manuscripts describing the location of undeveloped historic, prehistoric, archaeological, paleontological and battlefield sites or constituting gifts to any public body upon which the donor has attached restrictions on usage or the handling of which could irreparably damage such record, archive, document or manuscript;9.1.g. Information contained in or related to examination, operating or condition reports prepared by, or on behalf of, or for the use of any agency responsible for the regulations or supervision of financial institutions, except those reports that are by law required to be published in newspapers; and9.1.h. Internal memoranda or letters received or prepared by any public body.