14 Cfr 302.12

§ 302.12

14 CFR Ch. II (1–1–03 Edition)

(g) Disposition of motions. The DOT decisionmaker shall pass upon all motions properly submitted to him or her
for decision. The administrative law
judge shall pass upon all motions properly addressed to him or her, except
that, if the administrative law judge
finds that a prompt decision by the
DOT decisionmaker on a motion is essential to the proper conduct of the
proceeding, the administrative law
judge may refer such motion to the
DOT decisionmaker for decision.
(h) Appeals to the DOT decisionmaker
from rulings of administrative law judges.
Rulings of administrative law judges
on motions may not be appealed to the
DOT decisionmaker prior to his or her
consideration of the entire proceeding
except in extraordinary circumstances
and with the consent of the administrative law judge. An appeal shall be
disallowed unless the administrative
law judge finds, either on the record or
in writing, that the allowance of such
an appeal is necessary to prevent substantial detriment to the public interest or undue prejudice to any party. If
an appeal is allowed, any party may
file a brief with the DOT decisionmaker within such period as the administrative law judge directs. No oral
argument will be heard unless the DOT
decisionmaker directs otherwise. The
rulings of the administrative law judge
on a motion may be reviewed by the
DOT decisionmaker in connection with
his or her final action in the proceeding or at any other appropriate
time irrespective of the filing of an appeal or any action taken on it.
§ 302.12 Objections to public disclosure of information.
(a) Generally. Part 7 of the Office of
the Secretary regulations, Public
Availability of Information, governs
the availability of records and documents of the Department to the public.
(49 CFR 7.1 et seq.)
(b) Information contained in written
documents. Any person who objects to
the public disclosure of any information filed in any proceeding, or pursuant to the provisions of the Statute, or
any Department rule, regulation, or
order, shall segregate, or request the
segregation of, such information into a
separate submission and shall file it

separately in a sealed envelope, bearing the caption of the enclosed submission, and the notation ‘‘Confidential
Treatment Requested Under § 302.12.’’
At the time of filing such submission
(or, when the objection is made by a
person who is not the filer, within five
(5) days after the filing of such submission), the objecting party shall file a
motion to withhold the information
from public disclosure, in accordance
with the procedure outlined in paragraph (d) or (f) of this section, as appropriate. Notwithstanding any other
provision of this section, copies of the
filed submission and of the motion
need not be served upon any other
party unless so ordered by the Department.
(c) Information contained in oral testimony. Any person who objects to the
public disclosure of any information
sought to be elicited from a witness or
deponent on oral examination shall, before such information is disclosed,
make his or her objection known. Upon
such objection duly made, the witness
or deponent shall be compelled to disclose such information only in the
presence of the administrative law
judge or the person before whom the
deposition is being taken, as the case
may be, the official stenographer and
such attorneys for and representative
of each party as the administrative law
judge or the person before whom the
deposition is being taken shall designate, and after all present have been
sworn to secrecy. The transcript of testimony containing such information
shall be segregated and filed in a sealed
envelope, bearing the title and docket
number of the proceeding, and the notation ‘‘Confidential Treatment Requested Under § 302.12 Testimony Given
by (name of witness or deponent).’’
Within five (5) days after such testimony is given, the objecting person
shall file a motion in accordance with
the procedure outlined in paragraph (d)
of this section, to withhold the information from public disclosure. Notwithstanding any other provision of
this section, copies of the segregated
portion of the transcript and of the motion need not be served upon any other
party unless so ordered by the Department.

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Office of the Secretary, DOT

§ 302.13

(d) Form of motion. Motions to withhold from public disclosure information covered by paragraphs (b) and (c)
of this section shall be filed with the
Department in accordance with the following procedure:
(1) The motion shall include:
(i) An index listing the information
or document sought to be withheld by
an identifying number, and including
its title, description and number of
pages, and, if relevant, the specific location within a document;
(ii) A statement explaining how and
why the information falls within one or
more of the exemptions from the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C.
552(b)(1)–(9)); and
(iii) A statement explaining how and
why public disclosure of the information would adversely affect the interests of the objecting persons and is not
required in the interest of the public.
(2) Such motion shall be filed with
the person conducting the proceeding,
or with the person with whom said application, report, or submission is required to be filed. Such motion will be
denied when the complete justification
required by this paragraph is not provided.
(3) During the pendency of such motion, the ruling official may, by notice
or order, allow limited disclosure to
parties’ representatives, for purposes of
participating in the proceeding, upon
submission by them of affidavits swearing to protect the confidentiality of
the documents at issue.
(e) Conditions of disclosure. The order,
notice or other action of the Department containing its ruling upon each
such motion will specify the extent to
which, and the conditions upon which,
the information may be disclosed to
the parties and to the public, which
ruling shall become effective upon the
date stated therein, unless, within five
(5) days after the date of the entry of
the Department’s order with respect
thereto, a petition is filed by the objecting person requesting reconsideration by the Department, or a written
statement is filed indicating that the
objecting person in good faith intends
to seek judicial review of the Department’s order.
(f) Objection by Government departments or representative thereof. In the

case of objection to the public disclosure of any information filed by or elicited from any United States Government department or agency, or representative thereof, under paragraph
(b) or (c) of this section, the department or agency making such objection
shall be exempted from the provisions
of paragraphs (b), (c), and (d) of this
section insofar as said paragraphs require the filing of a written objection
to such disclosure. However, any department, agency, or representative
thereof may, if it so desires, file a
memorandum setting forth the reasons
why it is claimed that a public disclosure of the information should not be
made. If such a memorandum is submitted, it shall be filed and handled as
is provided by this section in the case
of a motion to withhold information
from public disclosure.
§ 302.13

Consolidation of proceedings.

(a) Initiation of consolidations. The Department, upon its own initiative or
upon motion, may consolidate for hearing or for other purposes or may contemporaneously consider two or more
proceedings that involve substantially
the same parties, or issues that are the
same or closely related, if it finds that
such consolidation or contemporaneous
consideration will be conducive to the
proper dispatch of its business and to
the ends of justice and will not unduly
delay the proceedings. Although the
Department may, in any particular
case,
consolidate
or
contemporaneously consider two or more proceedings on its own motion, the burden
of seeking consolidation or contemporaneous consideration of a particular
application shall rest upon the applicant and the Department will not undertake to search its docket for all applications that might be consolidated
or contemporaneously considered.
(b) Time for filing. Unless the Department has provided otherwise in a particular proceeding, a motion to consolidate or contemporaneously consider an application with any other application shall be filed within 21 days
of the original application in the case
of international route awards under
section 41102 of the Statute (see
§ 302.212), or, where a proceeding has

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