§ 5 — Protection of confidential and proprietary information during proceedings

Section 5. Notwithstanding clause Twenty-sixth of section 7 of chapter 4 and section 10 of chapter 66, the department may protect from public disclosure trade secrets, confidential, competitively sensitive or other proprietary information provided in the course of proceedings conducted pursuant to this chapter. There shall be a presumption that the information for which such protection is sought is public information and the burden shall be upon the proponent of such protection to prove the need for such protection. Where such a need has been found to exist, the department shall protect only so much of the information as is necessary to meet such need. The commissioner shall adopt procedural regulations consistent with this section to implement this section.