he New York State Supreme Court. On October 20, 1998, the Area Director, Newark/New York responded to the request. She determined that all documents pertaining to the entry were exempt from disclosure pursuant to exemption (b)(4) of the FOIA (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4)).

HQ 585669 April 20, 1999 DIS-3 RR:IT:DL 585669 DLD Faigy Stern Z. Reiss & Associates Inc. 150-20th Street Brooklyn, NY 11232 Dear Miss Stern: This is in response to your letter of November 17, 1998, in which you appeal the denial of the initial Freedom of Information Act (FOIA, 5 U.S.C. 552) request of September 29, 1998, by Zalmen Reisz of your firm. Mr. Reisz requested all documents submitted with Customs entry number 523-0348425-8, including the commercial invoice and the ocean bill of lading. He stated that fraud had been detected with this shipment and that this matter is now before the New York State Supreme Court. On October 20, 1998, the Area Director, Newark/New York responded to the request. She determined that all documents pertaining to the entry were exempt from disclosure pursuant to exemption (b)(4) of the FOIA (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4)). In your appeal, you state that the freight was consigned to Z. Reiss and Associates Inc., who purchased the goods and who are the owners of the goods. Your further state that the invoices submitted to Customs do not match invoices sent to your firm. We affirm the determination of the Area Director, Newark/New York that the documents associated with Customs entry 523-0348425-8 are exempt from disclosure pursuant to exemption (b)(4) of the FOIA. We take note of irregularities in some of the documents associated with this importation. For example, in the “Original Delivery Order” from the customhouse broker, a copy of which you submitted with your appeal, the address of your firm was used with the name of another firm. However, although you state in your appeal that “[t]his freight was consigned to us”, the fact remains that Z. Reiss & Associates Inc. is named neither as the Importer of Record nor the Ultimate Consignee of the goods on the Customs Form 7501, Entry Summary. Under the FOIA, we can only release, partially release or deny the release of documents. Determining the merits of allegations of discrepancies or fraud in connection with these documents is beyond the scope of the FOIA. We affirm that it is Customs firm policy not to release entry information to third parties. Entry documents are consistently considered exempt from release to third persons pursuant to FOIA exemption (b)(4), which allows the withholding of commercial and financial information obtained from a person and privileged and confidential (see Trans-Pacific Policing Agreement and Nippon Yusen Kaisha v. United States Customs Service U.S.C.D.C. Case No. 97- 2188 and Inter Ocean Free Zone, Inc. v. United States Customs Service, U.S.D.C. S. D.Fl. Case No. 97-618). In addition, 18 U.S.C. 1905 prohibits the improper release of business information by a Federal employee and imposes fines, imprisonment or removal from office for such disclosure. Accordingly, we deny your appeal in entirety. The initial FOIA request states that you are involved in litigation before the New York Supreme Court regarding this matter and the records are needed to substantiate your claim. As such, you can, through Court discovery proceedings or through other Court proceedings, subpoena the records from the importer or from his Customs broker and compel the importer to authorize Customs to release the entry documents to you. You may obtain judicial review of this decision pursuant to the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(4)(B) in the United States District Court in the District in which you reside or have a principal place of business, or in which the agency records are situated, or in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Sincerely, Lee H. Kramer, FOIA Appeals Officer Disclosure Law Branch