Section 6396 Of Article 4. Duties From California Labor Code >> Division 5. >> Part 1. >> Chapter 2.5. >> Article 4.
6396
. (a) The Director of Industrial Relations shall protect from
disclosure any and all trade secrets coming into his or her
possession, as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 6254.7 of the
Government Code, when requested in writing or by appropriate stamping
or marking of documents by the manufacturer or producer of a
mixture.
(b) Any information reported to or otherwise obtained by the
Director of Industrial Relations, or any of his or her
representatives or employees, which is exempt from disclosure under
subdivision (a), shall not be disclosed to anyone except an officer
or employee of the state or of the United States of America, in
connection with the official duties of that officer or employee under
any law for the protection of health, or to contractors with the
state and their employees if in the opinion of the director the
disclosure is necessary and required for the satisfactory performance
of a contract for performance of work in connection with this act.
(c) Any officer or employee of the state, or former officer or
employee, who by virtue of that employment or official position has
obtained possession of or has access to material the disclosure of
which is prohibited by this section, and who, knowing that disclosure
of the material is prohibited, knowingly and willfully discloses the
material in any manner to any person not entitled to receive it, is
guilty of a misdemeanor. Any contractor with the state and any
employee of that contractor, who has been furnished information as
authorized by this section, shall be considered to be an employee of
the state for purposes of this section.
(d) Information certified to by appropriate officials of the
United States, as necessarily kept secret for national defense
purposes, shall be accorded the full protections against disclosure
as specified by that official or in accordance with the laws of the
United States.
(e) (1) The director, upon his or her own initiative, or upon
receipt of a request pursuant to the California Public Records Act,
(Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1
of the Government Code) for the release of data submitted and
designated as a trade secret by an employer, manufacturer, or
producer of a mixture, shall determine whether any or all of the data
so submitted are a properly designated trade secret.
(2) If the director determines that the data is not a trade
secret, the director shall notify the employer, manufacturer, or
producer of a mixture by certified mail.
(3) The employer, manufacturer, or producer of a mixture shall
have 15 days after receipt of notification to provide the director
with a complete justification and statement of the grounds on which
the trade secret privilege is claimed. This justification and
statement shall be submitted by certified mail.
(4) The director shall determine whether the data are protected as
a trade secret within 15 days after receipt of the justification and
statement, or if no justification and statement is filed, within 30
days of the original notice, and shall notify the employer or
manufacturer and any party who has requested the data pursuant to the
California Public Records Act of that determination by certified
mail. If the director determines that the data are not protected as a
trade secret, the final notice shall also specify a date, not sooner
than 15 days after the date of mailing of the final notice, when the
data shall be available to the public.
(5) Prior to the date specified in the final notice, an employer,
manufacturer, or producer of a mixture may institute an action in an
appropriate superior court for a declaratory judgment as to whether
the data are subjected to protection under subdivision (a).
(f) This section does not authorize a manufacturer to refuse to
disclose information required pursuant to this chapter to the
director.