FWS Doesn't Have to Release Importer and Exporter Names In Response to FOIA Requests, DC Circuit Says

The Fish and Wildlife Service may withhold the names of U.S. and foreign importers and exporters listed on wildlife import and export declarations from Freedom of Information Act requests, the District of Columbia U.S. District Court said in an Aug. 15 decision. Humane Society International had filed the FOIA request at issue, seeking import and export records from the FWS Law Enforcement Management Information System that the agency had pulled from importers’ and exporters’ Form 3-177s. FWS provided some of the information, but redacted importer and exporter names and declared values, so the Humane Society filed suit. The district court declined to rule on whether withholding declared values was justified, citing shifting precedent that had overtaken legal briefs filed in the case. But it found FWS correctly cited FOIA exemptions protecting records compiled for law enforcement purposes and information that could be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy when it denied the FOIA requests with respect to importer and exporter names.