California Code of Regulations
Title 14 - Natural Resources
Division 2 - Department of Conservation
Chapter 4 - Development, Regulation, and Conservation of Oil and Gas Resources
Subchapter 5 - Disclosure and Inspection of Public Records
Article 3 - Status Determination
Section 1997.4 - Classification as Interpretive Data

(a) An owner or operator may request that certain data filed with the Division be classified as interpretive; however, in the absence of such request, the Supervisor may classify data as interpretive.

(b) A request for classification of data as interpretive must be made at the time of filing of the data with the Division. Such request shall be made in writing to the appropriate party, as indicated in Section 1997.1 of this article; shall contain justification for the request; and shall be signed by a representative of the company.

(c) If the Supervisor fails to reply to a request for interpretive status within twenty (20) working days from the date of receipt of such request, the request shall be deemed approved.

(d) Data that are the subject of a request for classification as interpretive shall be retained in confidential status after receipt of the request until the Supervisor determines whether they are interpretive.

(e) The Supervisor may review the confidential status of interpretive data after a period of five years. The data shall remain confidential unless the Supervisor demonstrates that the data does not warrant classification as interpretive data. The Supervisor shall notify the operator of this decision. If no written appeal is made pursuant to section 1997.5 of this article, the Supervisor may open the interpretive data to public review.