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FOIA Exemptions
The nine FOIA exemptions authorize Federal agencies to withhold information covering the following:
- Classified national defense and foreign relations information
- Internal agency rules and practices
- Information that is prohibited from disclosure by another Federal law
- Trade secrets and other confidential business information
- Inter-agency or intra-agency communications that are protected by legal privileges
- Information involving matters of personal privacy
- Records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes, to the extent that the production of those records
- could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings,
- would deprive a person of a right to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication,
- could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy,
- could reasonably be expected to disclose the identity of a confidential source,
- would disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions, or would disclose guidelines for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions, or
- could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual
- Information relating to the supervision of financial institutions
- Geological information on wells.
See the text of the FOIA for more specific information about these exemptions.