terpretations of general applicability formulated and adopted by the Commission; and

(5) Each amendment, revision, or repeal of the foregoing.

(b) Public reference facilities; materials and records available. (1) The Commission has a specially staffed and equipped public reference room in its principal office at Washington, D.C., and public reference facilities in the New York and Chicago Regional Offices. Some facilities for public use are also provided in other regional and branch offices. In addition to materials otherwise set forth in this paragraph, certain of the materials described in paragraph (a) of this section will be available at the public reference room at the principal office of the Commission and may be available at the Regional Offices.

(2) Except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section the materials hereinafter set forth in this subparagraph (2) are available for public inspection and copying during normal business hours at the public reference room at the principal office of the Commission and at the Regional Offices of the Commission. To the extent required to prevent a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, identifying details may be deleted, e.g., apparently defamatory statements made about any person, information received by or given to the Commission in confidence, or any contents of personnel and medical and similar files. In addition, certain materials which are considered to be nonpublic, as described in paragraph (c) of this section may, as authorized by the Commission from time to time, be made available for public inspection and copying in an abridged or summary form or with identifying details deleted.

(1) Final opinions of the Commission, including concurring and dissenting opinions, as well as orders made by the Commission in the adjudication of cases;

(ii) A record of the final votes of each member of the Commission in every Commission proceeding concluded after July 1, 1967.

(iii) Statements of policy and interpretations which have been adopted by the Commission and are not published in the FEDERAL REGISTER;

(iv) Administrative staff manuals and instructions to staff that affect a member of the public; and

'rrent indices to the materials eble pursuant to subpara

graphs (i), (iii), and (iv) of this subparagraph (2) which have been issued, adopted or promulgated after July 1, 1967, and such other indices as the Commission may determine.

(3) Subject to the provisions of paragraphs (c), (e) and (g) of this section, all other records and documents retained by the Commission in the performance of its statutory duties will promptly be made available for inspection to any person, and a copy of any record or document will be provided as soon as may be practicable, upon request made pursuant to paragraph (d) of this section. A compilation of documentary materials available at the public reference room at the principal office of the Commission appears below as Appendix A to this section (17 CFR 200.80a).

(4) All regional offices have available for public examination copies of prospectuses used in recent offerings of securities registered under the Securities Act; registration statements and recent annual reports filed pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act of companies having their principal office in their respective regions; active broker-dealer and investment adviser applications originating in their respective regions; and Regulation A (17 CFR 200.251 et seq.) letters of notification filed in their respective regions.

(5) In the New York offices of the Commission other available materials include copies of all recent registration statements and annual reports filed pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act; recent periodic reports made by companies having securities listed on exchanges; and recent periodic reports by many companies which have effective registration statements under the Securities Act of 1933.

(6) In the Chicago offices of the Commission other available materials include all recent registration statements and annual reports filed pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act, and other recent periodic reports of many companies which have securities listed on exchanges.

(7) In the San Francisco offices of the Commission other available materials include all recent registration statements and annual reports filed pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act.

(c) Nonpublic matters. Certain materials and records are considered to be nonpublic. Thus the Commission will not

generally publish or make available to any person matters that are:

(1) Specifically required by Executive order to be kept secret in the interest of the national defense or foreign policy.

(2) Related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of the Commission or any other agency of the Government of the United States, including operation rules, guidelines, and manuals of procedure for investigators, auditors, and other employees.

(3) Specifically exempted from disclosure by statute, including:

(i) Information contained in any notification, statement, application, declaration, report, or other document or record filed with or received by the Commission as required or permitted by law which is entitled to confidential treatment by operation or application of the provision of Clause 30 of Schedule A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Rule 485 (17 CFR 230.485) thereunder, section 24 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 24b-2 (17 CFR 240.24b-2) thereunder, section 22 of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 and Rule 104(b) (17 CFR 250.104(b)) thereunder, section 321(b) of the Trust Indenture Act of 1939, section 33(b) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, section 45 (a) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 and Rule 45a-1 (17 CFR 270.45a-1) thereunder, or section 210 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940; and

(ii) Information concerning administrative proceedings which are nonpublic pursuant to the provisions of section 22 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, section 19 of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, section 320 of the Trust Indenture Act of 1939, section 41 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, or section 212 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

(4) Trade secrets and commercial and financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential, including:

(i) Information obtained in connection with interpretative letters or noaction letters which is deemed to have been submitted in confidence unless the contrary clearly appears; and

(ii) Information contained in letters of comment in connection with registration statements, applications for registration or other material filed with the Commission, replies thereto, and related material which is deemed to have

91

been submitted to the Commission in confidence or to be confidential at the instance of the registrant or person who has filed such material unless the contrary clearly appears; and

(iii) Information contained in any document submitted to or required to be filed with the Commission where the Commission has undertaken formally or informally to receive such submission or filing for its use or the use of specified persons only, such as preliminary proxy material filed pursuant to Rule 14a-6 under the Securities Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-6), reports filed pursuant to Rule 322(c) and (d) under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.322 (c) and (d)), agreements filed pursuant to Rule 320(e) under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.320 (e)) or Rule 15c3–1(c) (7) (G) under the Securities Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.15c3–1(c) (7) (vii)) and schedules filed pursuant to Part II of Form X-17A-5 (17 CFR 249.617) in accordance with Rule 17a-5(b) (3) under the Securities Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.17a-5(b) (3)); and

(iv) Information contained in reports, summaries, analyses, letters, or memoranda arising out of or in connection with an examination or inspection or other investigation of the books and records of any person.

(5) Interagency or intra-agency memoranda or letters, including records which reflect discussions between or consideration by members of the Commission or members of its staff, or both, of any action taken or proposed to be taken by the Commission or by any member of its staff and also reports, summaries, analyses, conclusions, or any other work product of members of the Commission or of attorneys, accountants, analysts, or other members of the Commission's staff prepared in the course of an examination of the books or records of any person whose affairs are regulated by the Commission, or prepared otherwise in the performance of their duties, except those which by law would routinely be made available to a party other than an agency in litigation with the Commission.

(6) Personnel and medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, including those concerning all employees of the Commission and those concerning persons subject to regulation by the Commission such as personal information about employees of brokers or dealers

reported to the Commission pursuant to Rule 15b8-1(a) (2) (iii) under the Securities Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.15b8-1 (a) (2) (iii) ).

(7) Investigatory files compiled for law enforcement purposes except to the extent available by law to a party other than an agency, including those concerning or related to inspections or examinations of the books and records of any person and other investigations as authorized by law, which pertain to or may disclose the possible violation by any person of any provision of any of the statutes, rules, or regulations administered by the Commission; and all written communications from or to any person complaining of or otherwise furnishing information respecting such possible violations, as well as all correspondence and memoranda in connection with such complaint or information.

(8) Contained in or related to examinations, operating, or condition reports prepared by, on behalf of, or for the use of an agency responsible for the regulation or supervision of financial institutions; and

(9) Geological and geophysical information and data, including maps, concerning wells.

(d) Requests for Commission records and copies thereof. Requests for Commission records may be made in person on Form SEC-86 during normal business hours at the public reference room at the principal offices of the Commission in Washington, D.C. Inquiries in general, and orders for copies of Commission records may be made to the public reference room personally, by telephone or by mail.

(1) Each request for a Commission record or copy thereof shall identify the record with sufficient specificity with respect to names, dates and subject matter to permit it to be located among the records maintained by or for the Commission. A person who has made a request for a Commission record or copy thereof will be advised if further identifying information must be provided before his request can be filled.

(2) A charge will be made for locating and making available for inspection or copying records requested by any one person only if more than one-half manhour of work is required to comply with his request.

(3) Certain Commission records, such as correspondence to and from the Commission, are maintained in files which

also contain nonpublic materials such as intra-agency and interagency memoranda and letters. If undue delay and expense is to be avoided, any person who wishes to examine such a record or to obtain a copy thereof should identify the letter or other similarly filed record with particular specificity.

(4) No records will be made available, and no copy of any records will be provided to any person who has failed to pay appropriate fees for records services, as described in paragraph (g) of this section, with respect to any current or past records services obtained or requested.

(e) Record availability subject to delay. Records generally will be made available to the public on a first-come, first-served basis. In some circumstances, however, there may be a delay in making records available or in providing copies thereof:

(1) Records at Federal Records Centers. Many records of the Commission are stored in Federal Records Centers in accordance with law (including many of the documents which have been on file with the Commission for more than 2 years) and cannot be made available for several days after a request has been made. Any person who has requested for personal examination a record stored at the Federal Records Center will be notified when the record will be made available to him at the public reference room of the Commission. Any person who has ordered a copy of such record will be provided with a copy as soon as practicable.

(2) Records in use. Any record being inspected by or copied for another member of the public will be made available as soon as practicable. Although every effort will be made to make a record in use by a member of the Commission or its staff available when requested, it may occasionally be necessary to delay making such a record available when doing so at the time the request is made would seriously interfere with the work of the Commission or its staff. When for reasons stated in this subparagraph (2) it appears that a record cannot be made available on the day it is requested, the person who made the request will then or thereafter be notified when the record will be made available to him at the public reference room of the Commission. Any person who has requested a copy of a record that is in use when the request is received

་

will be provided with a copy as soon as practicable.

(3) Missing or lost records. Any person who has requested a record or copy will be notified if the record sought cannot be found. If he so requests, he will be notified if it subsequently is located.

(4) Inadequate description; requests for numerous records. If the records clerk finds that more than one-half manhour will be required on any one day to locate and make available for inspection records requested by a person, whether because of the inadequacy of identifying information provided, because of the aggregate number of records requested by him on that day, or for a similar reason, work in excess of one-half man-hour on that day will be contingent upon the availability of personnel and in accordance with an equitable allocation of time to all persons requesting records. Such additional work will also be subject to payment of fees in accordance with subparagraph (1) of paragraph (g) of this section.

(f) Administrative review-(1) Rulings on availability or records. Any person may apply for a ruling by the Public Information Officer of the Commission or his designee with respect to any record which has not been made available upon request and with respect to any copy of a record which has been requested but which has not been provided. Such application shall be in writing and will be given prompt attention. If the Public Information Officer finds that any provision of this section, or any rule or regulation referred to herein has not been applied properly to the applicant's request he shall direct proper compliance.

(2) Petition for Commission action. Any person who has not received a record requested or a copy requested may, within 30 days after the Public Information Officer has acted upon his application for a ruling, petition the Commission for an order directing that the record be made available to him or that a copy of the record be provided, either for good cause shown or because such record may not lawfully be withheld. Such petition shall be in writing, shall identify the record in the form in which it originally was requested, shall state the date upon which the record was requested, and may state such facts and cite such authorities as petitioner may consider appropriate.

(g) Fees for records services; schedule of fees. A current schedule of fees for records services, including locating and

making records available, attestations, and copying as provided in this paragraph (g) is published by the Commission and may be obtained upon request made in person, by telephone or by mail from the public reference room or at any regional or branch office of the Commission.

(1) Services requiring more than onehalf man-hour. A fee will be charged as provided in the Commission's current schedule of fees when more than onehalf man-hour of work is devoted to locating and making available for inspection or for copying records requested by a person, except that no such fee will be charged in connection with any record which is not made available because it is found to be nonpublic as described in paragraph (c) of this section, and no such fee will be charged for time devoted to an attempt to locate any record which, although adequately identified, is not made available because, after reasonable search, it cannot be located unless, after the person who requested the record or copy has been notified that it cannot be located, the search is continued beyond that time at his insistence.

(2) Records obtained from Federal Records Centers. When, to fill a request for inspection or copying, records are required to be obtained from a Federal Records Center, fees, in addition to those provided in this paragraph (g), will be charged to the extent authorized or required by rules or regulations promulgated by the General Services Administration.

(3) Attestations. In addition to any other fees or charges which may apply, a fee will be charged for records attestations as provided in the Commission's current schedule of fees. The seal of the Commission will be affixed to all attestations without additional charge.

(4) Copying services. Photocopies of public records filed with or retained by the Commission, or portions thereof, will be provided subject to fees established by an annual agreement between the Commission and the private contractor. A person who has been provided with copies of records upon request will be billed by the contractor for his copying services at rates shown in the Commission's current schedule of fees.

(5) Transcripts of public hearings. Copies of the transcripts of recent public hearings may be obtained from the reporter subject to the fees established by an annual agreement between the Com