(a) All records of NCUA or any officer, employee, or agent thereof, are confidential, privileged and exempt from disclosure, except as otherwise provided in this subpart, if they are:

(1) Records specifically authorized under criteria established by an Executive Order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy and are in fact properly classified pursuant to an Executive Order.

(2) Records related solely to NCUA internal personnel rules and practices. This exemption applies to internal rules or instructions which must be kept confidential in order to assure effective performance of the functions and activities for which NCUA is responsible and which do not materially affect members of the public. This exemption also applies to manuals and instructions to the extent that release of the information would permit circumvention of laws or regulations.

(3) Specifically exempted from disclosure by statute, where the statute either makes nondisclosure mandatory or establishes particular criteria for withholding information.

(4) Records which contain trade secrets and commercial or financial information which relate to the business, personal or financial affairs of any person or organization, are furnished to NCUA, and are confidential or privileged. This exemption includes, but is not limited to, various types of confidential sales and cost statistics, trade secrets, and names of key customers and personnel. Assurances of confidentiality given by staff are not binding on NCUA.

(5) Inter-agency or intra-agency memoranda or letters which would not be available by law to a private party in litigation with NCUA. This exemption preserves the existing freedom of NCUA officials and employees to engage in full and frank written or taped communications with each other and with officials and employees of other agencies. It includes, but is not limited to, inter-agency and intra-agency reports, memoranda, letters, correspondence, work papers, and minutes of meetings, as well as staff papers prepared for use within NCUA or in concert with other governmental agencies. In applying this exemption, the NCUA will not withhold records based on the deliberative process privilege if the records were created 25 years or more before the date on which the records were requested.

(6) Personnel, medical, and similar files (including financial files) pertaining to another person, the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy without the subject person's written consent or proof of death. Written consent consists of a written statement by the subject person, authorizing the release of the information to you, and including either the subject person's notarized signature or a declaration made under penalty of perjury that the statement is true and correct. Proof of death consists of evidence that the subject of your request is deceased—such as a death certificate, a newspaper obituary, or some comparable proof of death. Files exempt from disclosure include, but are not limited to:

(i) The personnel records of the NCUA;

(ii) The personnel records voluntarily submitted by private parties in response to NCUA's requests for proposals; and

(iii) Files containing reports, records or other material pertaining to individual cases in which disciplinary or other administrative action has been or may be taken.

(7) Records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that the production of such law enforcement records or information:

(i) Could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings;

(ii) Would deprive a person of a right to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication;

(iii) Could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;

(iv) Could reasonably be expected to disclose the identity of a confidential source, including a state, local, or foreign agency or authority or any private institution which furnished information on a confidential basis, and, in the case of a record or information compiled by a criminal law enforcement authority in the course of a criminal investigation on or by an agency conducting a lawful national security intelligence investigation, information furnished by the confidential source;

(v) Would disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigation or prosecutions, or would disclose guidelines for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions if such disclosure could reasonably be expected to risk circumvention of the law; or

(vi) Could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual. This includes, but is not limited to, information relating to enforcement proceedings upon which NCUA has acted or will act in the future.

(8) Contained in or related to examination, operating or condition reports prepared by, or on behalf of, or for the use of NCUA or any agency responsible for the regulation or supervision of financial institutions. This includes all information, whether in formal or informal report form, the disclosure of which would harm the financial security of credit unions or would interfere with the relationship between NCUA and credit unions.

(b) We will provide any reasonably segregable portion of a requested record after deleting those portions that are exempt from disclosure under this section.

[63 FR 14338, Mar. 25, 1998, as amended at 73 FR 56937, Oct. 1, 2008; 81 FR 93794, Dec. 22, 2016; 82 FR 29712, June 30, 2017]