Is a facility required to provide its food facility registration number, assigned by FDA when the registration is submitted, to customers or other businesses who request the number? Is a facility prohibited from revealing its registration number?

Section 415(a)(5) of the FD&C Act provides that certain registration-related information,
including the registration number, is not subject to disclosure under FOIA. However, this does
not prevent a facility itself from disclosing such information. In fact, for imports, a facility will
likely need to provide its registration number to any downstream commercial entity who will be
submitting prior notice for a food manufactured by the facility (see 21 CFR part 1, subpart I).
The FD&C Act does not prevent a foreign facility from entering into an agreement with its
customers to limit the circumstances in which the facility’s registration number may be disclosed
to third parties.