[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 46, Volume 9]
[Revised as of October 1, 2006]

[CITE: 46CFR503.78]

[Page 116]
 
                           TITLE 46--SHIPPING
 
                 CHAPTER IV--FEDERAL MARITIME COMMISSION
 
PART 503_PUBLIC INFORMATION--Table of Contents
 
Subpart H_Public Observation of Federal Maritime Commission Meetings and 
     Public Access to Information Pertaining to Commission Meetings
 
Sec.  503.78  General rule--information pertaining to meeting.

    (a) As defined in Sec.  503.71, all information pertaining to a 
portion or portions of a meeting or portion or portions of a series of 
meetings of the agency shall be disclosed to the public unless excepted 
from such disclosure under Sec.  Sec.  503.79, 503.80 and 503.81.
    (b) All inquiries as to the status of pending matters which were 
considered by the Commission in closed session should be directed to the 
Secretary of the Commission. Commission personnel who attend closed 
meetings of the Commission are prohibited from disclosing anything that 
occurs during those meetings. An employee's failure to respect the 
confidentiality of closed meetings constitutes a violation of 
Commission's General Standards of Conduct. The Commission can, of 
course, determine to make public the events or decisions occurring in a 
closed meeting, such information to be disseminated by the Office of the 
Secretary. An inquiry to the Office of the Secretary as to whether any 
information has been made public is not, therefore, improper. However, a 
request of or attempt to persuade a Commission employee to divulge the 
contents of a closed meeting constitutes a lack of proper professional 
conduct inappropriate to a person practicing before this agency, and 
requires that the employee file a report of such event so that a 
determination can be made whether disciplinary action should be 
initiated pursuant to Sec.  502.30 of this chapter.