12 CFR 311.3 – Meetings
(a) Open meetings. Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, every portion of every meeting of the Corporation‘s Board will be open to public observation. Board members will not jointly conduct or dispose of Corporation business other than in accordance with this part.
Terms Used In 12 CFR 311.3
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. Source: OCC
- Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
- Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
- Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
(b) When meetings may be closed and announcements and disclosures withheld. Except where the Board finds that the public interest requires otherwise, a meeting or portion thereof may be closed, and announcements and disclosure pertaining thereto may be withheld when the Board determines that such meeting or portion of the meeting or the disclosure of such information is likely to:
(1) Disclose matters that are: (i) Specifically authorized under criteria established by an Executive order to be kept secret in the interests of national defense or foreign policy and (ii) in fact properly classified pursuant to such Executive order;
(2) Relate solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of the Corporation;
(3) Disclose matters specifically exempted from disclosure by statute (other than the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552): Provided, That such statute: (i) Requires that the matters be withheld from the public in such a manner as to leave no discretion on the issue, or (ii) establishes particular types of matters to be withheld;
(4) Disclose trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential;
(5) Involve accusing any person of a crime, or formally censuring any person;
(6) Disclose information of a personal nature where disclosure would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;
(7) Disclose investigatory records compiled for law enforcement purposes, or information which if written would be contained in such records, but only to the extent that the production of such records or information would: (i) Interfere with enforcement proceedings, (ii) deprive a person of a right to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication, (iii) constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, (iv) disclose the identity of a confidential source, (v) disclose investigative techniques and procedures, or (vi) endanger the life or physical safety of law enforcement personnel;
(8) Disclose information contained in or related to examination, operating, or condition reports prepared by, on behalf of, or for the use of the Corporation or any other agency responsible for the supervision of financial institutions;
(9) Disclose information the premature disclosure of which would be likely to:
(i)(A) Lead to significant financial speculation in currencies, securities, or commodities, or
(B) Significantly endanger the stability of any financial institution; or
(ii) Significantly frustrate implementation of a proposed Corporation action, except that this paragraph (b)(9)(ii) shall not apply in any instance where the Corporation has already disclosed to the public the content or nature of its proposed action, or where the Corporation is required by law to make such disclosure on its own initiative prior to taking final action on such proposal; or
(10) Specifically concern the Corporation’s issuance of a subpoena, or the Corporation’s participation in a civil action or proceeding, an action in a foreign court or international tribunal, or an arbitration, or the initiation, conduct, or disposition by the Corporation of a particular case of formal agency adjudication pursuant to the procedures in 5 U.S.C. § 554 or otherwise involving a determination on the record after opportunity for a hearing.