7(1)(g)

How the Public Access Counselor has treated 7(1)(g)

Section 7(1)(g) covers trade secrets and confidential commercial or financial information. Public bodies have invoked it to withhold items such as contracts, financial terms, budgets, project cost records, throughput reports, lease agreements, cost reports, non-disclosure agreements, and privately created training or marketing materials submitted to or held by the government.

In these decisions, the Public Access Counselor most often found the exemption did not apply, particularly where records documented expenditure of public funds, financial terms of government contracts, development project budgets, or regulatory filings. The Counselor upheld withholding in narrower cases involving a staff training presentation and investment banking pitchbooks found to contain confidential commercial information. A few matters in the set were resolved under other exemptions or were indexes without a substantive holding on this exemption.

At a glance: 15 documents from 2014 to 2023(9 binding opinions, 6 determination letters). Most often cited alongside: 7(1)(b) (Private information) (3); 7(1)(a) (Federal/State-law confidentiality — or public defender case files, for documents issued under the other amendment version) (2); 7(1)(f) (Preliminary drafts, notes, and deliberative materials) (2); 7(1)(j)(iv) (Faculty course/research materials) (2); 7(1)(c) (Personal privacy) (1).

Recurring issues

• Whether financial terms, invoices, and budgets in contracts for government services or use of public funds can be withheld as commercial or financial information. (Financial terms of wastewater facility contracts and invoices, Financial terms of a lottery marketing contract, Contracts and correspondence for a concert at a public arena)
• Whether a developer's project budget and a non-disclosure agreement related to a publicly assisted development project are exempt. (Developer cost records for a city-funded redevelopment project, A non-disclosure agreement for a commercial development project)
• Whether throughput reports, managed care cost reports, and business leases submitted to government can be withheld as confidential commercial information. (Manganese throughput reports submitted to a public health department, Quarterly cost reports for Medicaid managed care organizations, Lease agreements for business or remodeling licenses)
• Whether privately created marketing pitchbooks and a training presentation held by a public body qualify as trade secrets or commercial information. (Investment banking pitchbooks for pension bond sales, Training presentation on sexual harassment)

Practical points

• Requesters seeking contracts, pricing terms, invoices, or budgets tied to public funds should explain the public-funds connection, since the PAC often rejected 7(1)(g) claims for those records.
• Public bodies claiming competitive harm for regulatory filings or third-party submissions should be prepared to show why the material qualifies, as claims for throughput reports, cost reports, and leases were rejected in these decisions.
• Public bodies holding privately created pitchbooks or proprietary training materials should have the specific documents reviewed, since withholding was upheld in those narrower cases.

Summary drafted from the linked decisions and checked against them; read the decisions themselves before relying on it. Not legal advice.