Open Records Decision No. 303
January 15, 1982

	Re:  Whether details of the manufacture of medication should be withheld from 
disclosure under the Open Records Act

Robert Bernstein, M.D.
Commissioner of Health
Texas Department of Health
1100 West 49th Street
Austin, Texas  78756

Dear Dr. Bernstein:

	You have requested our decision under the Open Records Act, article 6252-17a, 
V.T.C.S., as to whether details regarding the manufacture of a certain medication are 
available to the public.

	Ortho-Tex of San Antonio, the manufacturer of chemolase, a proteolytic enzyme 
used in the treatment of lumbar disc disease, recently submitted an application to the 
Texas Department of Health to manufacture, sell and distribute chemolase in the state of 
Texas.  A competitor has requested a copy of that portion of the application which 
provides the details of the method of manufacturing chemolase.  You suggest that this 
information is excepted from disclosure under section 3(a)(10) of the Open Records Act 
as:

trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from 
a person and privileged or confidential by statute or judicial 
decision.

	The section 3(a)(10) exception is patterned after an almost identical provision in 
the federal Freedom of Information Act, which exempts “trade secrets and commercial or 
financial information obtained from any person and privileged or confidential.”  5 U.S.C. 
§552(b)(4).  When the legislature adopts language from another jurisdiction, it is 
presumed to have intended it to have the same meaning.  State v. Weiss, 171 S.W.2d 
848, 851 (Tex. 1943).  The legislative history of the federal provision makes it clear that 
manufacturing processes were intended to be included within this exception.  The House 
Report accompanying the legislation notes that the exception:

. . . exempts such material if it would not customarily be made 
public by the person from whom it was obtained by the 
Government.  The exemption would include business sales statistics, 
inventories, customer lists, scientific or manufacturing processes or 
developments, and negotiation positions or requirements in the case 
of labor-management mediations.  (Emphasis added).

House Report No. 1497, 89th Cong., 2d Sess. 10 (1966), U.S. Code Cong. & Adm. News 
2148, 2427.  See Open Records Decision Nos. 255 (1980); 107 (1975).

	Since a manufacturing process is clearly within the meaning of “trade secret,” and 
since the applicant, Ortho-Tex, regards the information as a “trade secret,” we are of the 
opinion that the details of the method of manufacturing chemolase are excepted from 
disclosure under section 3(a)(10) of the Open Records Act.

Very truly yours,

Mark White
Attorney General of Texas

John W. Fainter, JR.
First Assistant Attorney General

Richard E. Gray III
Executive Assistant Attorney General

Prepared by Rick Gilpin
Assistant Attorney General

APPROVED:
OPINION COMMITTEE

Susan L. Garrison, Chairman
Walter Davis
Rick Gilpin
Jim Moellinger