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Mr. David Shelton, Director <br />February 24, 1981. <br />Page Five <br />provided by law. The defendant in this case was unable to <br />prove that his denial of the requested autopsy reports was <br />excepted from public disclosure in the Act .itself or in any <br />other statute. This Colorado Supreme Court decision does <br />not contradict our claim for confidentiality treatment under <br />authority of §24-72-104(3)(a)(IV) of the Colorado Open <br />Records Act, as provided for in 524-72-201 and 203(1) in the <br />same Act. <br />There are no known Colorado court decisions <br />interpreting 534-32-112(9) of the 1976 Act or 534-33-111(1)(1) <br />or (2) of the 1979 Act. In addition, there are no known <br />Colorado Attorney General's published opinions on the cited <br />sections of these Colorado laws. <br />While not controlling, the Federal Freedom of <br />Information Act found in 5 U.S.C. 5552 provides some analogy <br />of similar purposes of public disclosure and treatment of <br />confidential information claims based on trade secrets and <br />commercial or financial information supplied to the federal <br />government. Subsection (b)(4) of 5 U.S.C. 5552 specifically <br />exempts from public disclosure "trade secrets and commercial <br />or financial information obtained from a person and privileged <br />or confidential." The term "confidential" in the context of <br />Freedom of Information Act exemption (b)(4) requires a <br />subjective analysis of whether matters are customarily held <br />in confidence by the owners and persons like him, and objective <br />analysis of whether disclosure would (a) significantly harm <br />the owner's competitive position and (b) deter others from <br />submitting this detailed data to the agency in the future. <br />See Federal Information Disclosure, James T. Reilly, Sheperd's <br />Inc. §14.08. Historically, the term "confidential" was <br />added to this federal Act to encompass non-trade secret <br />concepts about matters which were held secret by persons and <br />corporations and which were customarily confidential in the <br />hands of those persons. <br />The recognized objective test for "confidential" <br />status is that established by National Parks & Conservation <br />Assn. v. Morton, 498 F.2d 765 (D.C. Cir. 1974). The Appeals <br />Court summarized the legal objective test for (b)(4) confidential <br />status as follows: <br />Commercial or financial matter is "confidential" for <br />purposes of the exemption if disclosure of the informa- <br />tion is likely to have either of the following effects: <br />