# § 1636. General provisions
**(a)** **Confidentiality** The Secretary shall make available to the public information, statistics, and documents obtained from, or submitted by, packers, retail entities, and other persons under this subchapter in a manner that ensures that confidentiality is preserved regarding—
**(1)** the identity of persons, including parties to a contract; and
**(2)** proprietary business information.
**(b)** **Disclosure by Federal Government employees**
**(1)** **In general** Subject to paragraph (2), no officer, employee, or agent of the United States shall, without the consent of the packer or other person concerned, divulge or make known in any manner, any facts or information regarding the business of the packer or other person that was acquired through reporting required under this subchapter.
**(2)** **Exceptions** Information obtained by the Secretary under this subchapter may be disclosed—
**(A)** to agents or employees of the Department of Agriculture in the course of their official duties under this subchapter;
**(B)** as directed by the Secretary or the Attorney General, for enforcement purposes; or
**(C)** by a court of competent jurisdiction.
**(3)** **Disclosure under Freedom of Information Act** section 552 of title 5
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no facts or information obtained under this subchapter shall be disclosed in accordance with .
**(c)** **Reporting by packers** A packer shall report all information required under this subchapter on an individual lot basis.
**(d)** **Regional reporting and aggregation** The Secretary shall make information obtained under this subchapter available to the public only in a manner that—
**(1)** ensures that the information is published on a national and a regional or statewide basis as the Secretary determines to be appropriate;
**(2)** ensures that the identity of a reporting person is not disclosed; and
**(3)** conforms to aggregation guidelines established by the Secretary.
**(e)** **Adjustments** Prior to the publication of any information required under this subchapter, the Secretary may make reasonable adjustments in information reported by packers to reflect price aberrations or other unusual or unique occurrences that the Secretary determines would distort the published information to the detriment of producers, packers, or other market participants.
**(f)** **Verification** The Secretary shall take such actions as the Secretary considers necessary to verify the accuracy of the information submitted or reported under part B, C, or D of this subchapter.
**(g)** **Electronic reporting and publishing**
**(1)** **In general** The Secretary shall, to the maximum extent practicable, provide for the reporting and publishing of the information required under this subchapter by electronic means.
**(2)** **Improvements and education**
**(A)** **Enhanced electronic publishing** The Secretary shall develop and implement an enhanced system of electronic publishing to disseminate information collected pursuant to this subchapter. Such system shall—
**(i)** present information in a format that can be readily understood by producers, packers, and other market participants;
**(ii)** adhere to the publication deadlines in this subchapter;
**(iii)** present information in charts and graphs, as appropriate;
**(iv)** present comparative information for prior reporting periods, as the Secretary considers appropriate; and
**(v)** be updated as soon as practicable after information is reported to the Secretary.
**(B)** **Education** The Secretary shall carry out a market news education program to educate the public and persons in the livestock and meat industries about—
**(i)** usage of the system developed under subparagraph (A); and
**(ii)** interpreting and understanding information collected and disseminated through such system.
**(h)** **Reporting of activities on weekends and holidays**
**(1)** **In general** Livestock committed to a packer, or purchased, sold, or slaughtered by a packer, on a weekend day or holiday shall be reported by the packer to the Secretary (to the extent required under this subchapter), and reported by the Secretary, on the immediately following reporting day.
**(2)** **Limitation on reporting by packers** A packer shall not be required to report actions under paragraph (1) more than once on the immediately following reporting day.
**(i)** **Effect on other laws** Nothing in this subchapter, the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999, or amendments made by that Act restricts or modifies the authority of the Secretary to—
**(1)** administer or enforce the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 (7 U.S.C. 181 et seq.);
**(2)** administer, enforce, or collect voluntary reports under this chapter or any other law; or
**(3)** access documentary evidence as provided under sections 49 and 50 of title 15.
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**Source Credit**: (Aug. 14, 1946, ch. 966, title II, § 251, as added Pub. L. 106–78, title IX, § 911(2), Oct. 22, 1999, 113 Stat. 1200; amended Pub. L. 110–234, title XI, § 11001(a)(1), May 22, 2008, 122 Stat. 1350; Pub. L. 110–246, § 4(a), title XI, § 11001(a)(1), June 18, 2008, 122 Stat. 1664, 2112.)
## Editorial Notes
### References in Text
The Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999, referred to in subsec. (i), is title IX of , , , which is set out as a note under .
The Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921, referred to in subsec. (i)(1), is , , which is classified generally to chapter 9 (§ 181 et seq.) of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see and Tables.
### Codification
and made identical amendments to this section. The amendments by were repealed by .
### Amendments
2008—Subsec. (g). , amended subsec. (g) generally. Prior to amendment, text read as follows: “The Secretary shall, to the maximum extent practicable, provide for the reporting and publishing of the information required under this subchapter by electronic means.”
## Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
### Effective Date of 2008 Amendment
Amendment of this section and repeal of by effective , the date of enactment of , see , set out as an Effective Date note under .
### Implementation of Enhanced Electronic Publishing
> **“(A)** **Enhanced reporting.—** The Secretary of Agriculture shall develop and implement the system required under paragraph (2)(A) of section 251(g) of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1636(g)), as amended by paragraph (1), not later than one year after the date on which the Secretary determines sufficient funds have been appropriated pursuant to subsection (c) [122 Stat. 2113].
>
> **“(B)** **Current system.—** Notwithstanding the amendment made by paragraph (1), the Secretary shall continue to use the information format for disseminating information under subtitle B [7 U.S.C. 1635 et seq.] of the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 1621 et seq.) in effect on the date of the enactment of this Act [June 18, 2008] at least until the date that is two years after the date on which the Secretary makes the determination referred to in subparagraph (A).”
, , , and , title XI, § 11001(a)(2), , , 2112, provided that:
[ and enacted identical provisions. was repealed by , set out as a note under .]