In addition to the provisions of 40 C.F.R. § 122.7(b) and (c), which are adopted by reference in 8 CAR § 25-104, the following provisions apply:

1. (1)

   1. (A) Any information submitted to the Division of Environmental Quality may be claimed as confidential by the submitter.
   2. (B) Any claim must be asserted at the time of submission in accordance with the provisions of this section.
   3. (C) If no claim is made at the time of submission, the division may make the information available to the public without further notice.
   4. (D) If a claim is asserted, the Director of the Division of Environmental Quality will make a determination of whether the material, if made public, would divulge trade secrets entitled to protection;

2. (2) It shall be the responsibility of the person claiming any information as confidential under the provisions of subdivision (1) of this section to:

   1. (A) Clearly mark each page containing such information with the word “CONFIDENTIAL”; and
   2. (B) Submit an affidavit setting forth the reasons that said person believes that such information is entitled to protection as a trade secret;

3. (3)

   1. (A) Any document submitted to the division that contains information for which the claim of confidential information is made shall be submitted in a sealed envelope marked “CONFIDENTIAL” and addressed to the director.

   2. (B)

      1. (i) The document shall be submitted in two (2) separate parts.
      2. (ii) The first part shall contain all information that is not deemed by the submitter as confidential and shall include appropriate cross references to the second part that contains data, words, phrases, paragraphs, or pages and appropriate affidavits containing or relating to information that is claimed to be confidential;

4. (4)

   1. (A) No information shall be protected as confidential information by the director unless it is submitted to the director in accordance with the provisions of subdivisions (2) and (3) of this section.
   2. (B) No information shall be afforded protection as confidential information unless the director finds that such protection is necessary to protect trade secrets and that such protection will not hide from public view the characteristics of waste materials and probable effects of the introduction of such waste or by-products into the environment.
   3. (C) The person who submits information claimed as confidential shall receive written notice from the director as to whether the information has been accepted as confidential or not;

5. (5)

   1. (A) All information that the director determines is entitled to protection shall be marked with the term “ACCEPTED” and shall be protected as confidential information.

   2. (B) Whenever the director finds that the submitted information does not meet the criteria of subdivision (4) of this section, the director shall:

      1. (i) Promptly notify the person submitting the information of his or her finding; and
      2. (ii) Give that person reasonable opportunity to further justify his or her contention that the information deserves protection as a trade secret or to further limit the scope of information for which the request for protection is made.
   3. (C) If the person fails to satisfactorily demonstrate to the director that the information in the form presented to him or her meets the criteria of subdivision (4) of this section, the director shall mark the information “REJECTED” and promptly return the information to the person submitting the information.
   4. (D) The person shall have thirty (30) days to resubmit the information in acceptable form or request review of the decision of the director in accordance with Subpart 6 of 8 CAR pt. 11;

6. (6)

   1. (A) All information which is accepted by the director as confidential shall be stored in locked filing cabinets and only those personnel of the division specifically designated by the director shall have access to the information contained therein.
   2. (B) The director shall not designate any persons to have access to confidential information unless the person requires the access to perform his or her responsibilities and duties.
   3. (C) No person shall disclose any confidential information except in accordance with the provisions of this section; and

7. (7)

   1. (A) NPDES permits and permit applications and all information contained in them are required by 40 C.F.R. § 122.7 to be publicly available.
   2. (B) No claim of confidentiality will be accepted hereunder for this material.
   3. (C) Consequently, applications containing confidential information will be returned to the applicant.