[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 143 (Wednesday, July 27, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43431-43433]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-14904]
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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
Privacy Act of 1974; New Routine Uses
AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
ACTION: Notice of new routine uses; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The FTC proposes to revise an existing system of records
titled ``Inspector General Investigative Files--FTC'' to comply with
requirements established by the Homeland Security Act of 2002. The
major change to the system is the addition of new routine uses to allow
the disclosure of information to authorized officials within the
President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency (PCIE) and the
Executive Council on Integrity and Efficiency (ECIE), who are charged
with the responsibility for conducting qualitative assessment reviews
of investigative operations for the purpose of reporting to the
President and Congress on the activities of the OIG.
DATES: Any interested persons may submit written comments on this
proposal by August 26, 2005. Unless changes are made in response to
comments received from the public, this action will become effective
without further notice on September 12, 2005.
ADDRESSES: Comments filed in paper form should be mailed or delivered
to Cynthia A. Hogue, Counsel to the Inspector General, Office of
Inspector General, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue,
NW., Washington, DC 20580. Comments should refer to ``Privacy Act of
1974; New Routine Uses, P052103'' to facilitate the organization of
comments, and should include this reference both in the text and on the
envelope. Because paper mail in the Washington area and at the Agency
is subject to delay, please consider submitting your comments in
electronic form, by sending them to the following e-mail address:
[email protected]. The Privacy Act and the FTC Act permit the collection
of public comments to consider and use in this proceeding as
appropriate. All timely and responsive public comments, whether filed
in paper or electronic form, will be considered by the Commission, and
may be available to the public on the FTC Web site, to the extent
practicable, at http://www.ftc.gov. As a matter of discretion, the FTC
makes every effort to remove home contact information for individuals
from the public comments it receives before placing those comments on
the FTC Web site. More information, including routine uses permitted by
the Privacy Act, may be found in the FTC's privacy policy, at http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm. If the comment, to the extent it is placed
on the public record, contains any material for which confidential
treatment is desired, the comment must be filed only in paper form,
accompanied by a confidentiality request to the General Counsel as
required by Commission Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c), stating the specific
legal or other justification, if any, for such treatment, and the first
page of the document must be clearly labeled ``Confidential.'' The
General Counsel will grant or deny the request in accordance with
applicable law and the public interest.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Cynthia A. Hogue, Counsel to the
Inspector General, Office of Inspector General, FTC, 600 Pennsylvania
Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20580, (202) 326-2618; or Alex Tang,
Attorney, Office of the General Counsel, FTC, (202) 326-2447.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This publication is in accordance with the
Privacy Act requirement that agencies publish their amended systems of
records in the Federal Register when there is a revision, change or
addition. FTC's Office of Inspector General (OIG) has reviewed its
systems of records notice for the ``Office of Inspector General
Investigative Files-FTC,'' see 55 FR 20527 (May 17, 1990) (FTC I-7),
and has determined that it must be revised to add two new routine uses
to permit disclosure of records for the purpose of assessment reviews.
The Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-296, Nov. 25, 2002)
requires certain Inspectors General to ``establish an
[[Page 43432]]
external review process for ensuring that adequate internal safeguards
and management procedures continue to exist within each Office * * *.''
The PCIE and the ECIE are establishing peer review processes that
are designed to provide qualitative measurement to ensure that adequate
internal safeguards and management procedures are maintained, foster
high-quality investigations and investigative processes, ensure that
the highest level of professionalism is maintained and promote
consistency in investigative standards and practices within the IG
community. The FTC OIG has committed to undergoing qualitative
assessment reviews of its investigations. Proposed routine use (5) will
allow disclosure of information to authorized officials within the
PCIE, the ECIE, the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, as necessary, for the purpose of conducting qualitative
assessment reviews of the OIG's investigative operations. Proposed
routine use (6) will allow the disclosure of information to the PCIE
and the ECIE for their preparation of reports to the President and
Congress on the activities of the Inspectors General. As required by
the Privacy Act at 5 U.S.C. 552a(r), we have notified the Office of
Management and Budget, the Committee on Government Reform of the House
of Representatives, and the Committee on (Homeland Security and)
Governmental Affairs of the Senate of the new routine uses.
The FTC is also taking this opportunity to make various technical
changes and corrections to the system notice to improve its clarity and
accuracy. None of these changes will affect the existing or new
proposed routine uses.
The system notice is published in its entirety below.
FTC-I-7
System name:
Office of Inspector General Investigative Files-FTC.
Security classification:
None.
System location:
FTC Office of Inspector General, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.,
Washington, DC 20580.
Categories of individuals covered by the system:
Subjects of OIG investigations relating to the programs and
operations of the Federal Trade Commission. Subject individuals
include, but are not limited to, current and former employees; current
and former agents or employees of contractors or subcontractors, as
well as current and former contractors and subcontractors in their
personal capacity, where applicable; and other individuals whose
actions affect the FTC, its programs or operations.
Categories of records in the system:
Correspondence relating to the investigation; internal staff
memoranda; copies of subpoenas issued during the investigation,
affidavits, statements from witnesses, transcripts of testimony taken
in the investigation and accompanying exhibits; documents, records or
copies obtained during the investigation; interview notes, documents
and records relating to the investigation; opening reports, information
or data relating to alleged or suspected criminal, civil or
administrative violations or similar wrongdoing by subject individuals
and final reports of investigation.
Authority for maintenance of the system:
Inspector General Act Amendments of 1988, Pub. L. 100-504, amending
the Inspector General Act of 1978, Pub. L. 95-452, 5 U.S.C. app.
Purpose(s):
To document the conduct and outcome of investigations; to report
results of investigations to other components of the FTC or other
agencies and authorities for their use in evaluating their programs and
imposition of criminal, civil or administrative sanctions; to report
the results of investigations to other agencies or other regulatory
bodies for an action deemed appropriate and for retaining sufficient
information to fulfill reporting requirements; and to maintain records
related to the activities of the Office of the Inspector General.
Routine uses of records maintained in the system, including categories
of users and the purposes of such uses:
In addition to the disclosures generally permitted under 5 U.S.C.
552a(b), and the disclosure provisions described in Appendix I of the
notice published at 57 FR 45678 (Oct. 2, 1992) (compiling various FTC
system notices), records or information in these records may be
specifically disclosed pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(3) as follows,
provided that no routine use specified either herein or in Appendix I
shall be construed to limit or waive any other routine use:
(1) Disclosed to agencies, offices, or establishments of the
executive, legislative, or judicial branches of the federal or state
government
(a) Where such agency, office, or establishment has an interest in
the individual for employment purposes, including a security clearance
or determination as to access to classified information, and needs to
evaluate the individual's qualifications, suitability, and loyalty to
the United States Government, or
(b) Where such agency, office, or establishment conducts an
investigation of the individual for the purposes of granting a security
clearance, or for making a determination of qualifications,
suitability, or loyalty to the United States Government, or access to
classified information or restricted areas, or
(c) Where the records or information in those records are relevant
and necessary to a decision with regard to the hiring or retention of
an employee or disciplinary or other administrative action concerning
an employee, or
(d) Where disclosure is requested in connection with the award of a
contract or other determination relating to a government procurement,
or the issuance of a license, grant, or other benefit by the requesting
agency, to the extent that the record is relevant and necessary to the
requesting agency's decision on the matter, including, but not limited
to, disclosure to any Federal agency responsible for considering
suspension or debarment actions where such record would be germane to a
determination of the propriety or necessity of such action, or
disclosure to the United States General Accounting Office, the General
Services Administration Board of Contract Appeals, or any other Federal
contract board of appeals in cases relating to an agency procurement;
(2) Disclosed to the Office of Personnel Management, the Office of
Government Ethics, the Merit Systems Protection Board, the Office of
the Special Counsel, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or
the Federal Labor Relations Authority or its General Counsel, of
records or portions thereof relevant and necessary to carrying out
their authorized functions, such as, but not limited to, rendering
advice requested by the OIG, investigations of alleged or prohibited
personnel practices (including unfair labor or discriminatory
practices), appeals before official agencies, offices, panels or
boards, and authorized studies or review of civil service or merit
systems or affirmative action programs;
(3) Disclosed to independent auditors or other private firms with
which the Office of the Inspector General has contracted to carry out
an independent audit or investigation, or to analyze, collate,
aggregate or otherwise refine data collected in the system of records,
[[Page 43433]]
subject to the requirement that such contractors shall maintain Privacy
Act safeguards with respect to such records;
(4) Disclosed to a direct recipient of federal funds such as a
contractor, where such record reflects serious inadequacies with a
recipient's personnel and disclosure of the record is for purposes of
permitting a recipient to take corrective action beneficial to the
Government;
(5) Disclosed to any official charged with the responsibility to
conduct qualitative assessment reviews of internal safeguards and
management procedures employed in investigative operations. This
disclosure category includes members of the President's Council on
Integrity and Efficiency, Executive Council on Integrity and Efficiency
and officials and administrative staff within their investigative chain
of command, as well as authorized officials of the Department of
Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and
(6) Disclosed to members of the President's Council on Integrity
and Efficiency and the Executive Council on Integrity and Efficiency
for the preparation of reports to the President and Congress on the
activities of the Inspectors General.
Disclosure to consumer reporting agencies:
Disclosures may be made from this system, pursuant to 5 U.S.C.
552a(b)(12), to consumer reporting agencies as defined in the Fair
Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. 1681a(f), or the Federal Claims
Collection Act of 1966, 31 U.S.C. 3701(a)(3), in accordance with 31
U.S.C. 3711(f).
Policies and Practices for storing, retrieving, accessing, retaining,
and disposing of records in the system:
Storage:
The OIG Investigative Files consist of paper records maintained in
file folders, cassette tapes and CD-ROMs containing audio recordings of
investigative interviews, and data maintained on computer diskettes and
hard drives. The folders, cassette tapes, CD-ROMs and diskettes are
stored in file cabinets in the OIG. The hard drives are retained in the
OIG safe.
Retrievability:
The records are retrieved by the name of the subject of the
investigation or by a unique control number assigned to each
investigation.
Safeguards:
Records are maintained in lockable file cabinets in lockable rooms.
Access is restricted to individuals whose duties require access to the
records. File cabinets and rooms are locked during non-duty hours.
Retention and disposal:
As prescribed in National Archives and Records Administration
General Records Schedule 22, item 1b, OIG Investigative Files are
destroyed 10 years after a case is closed. Cases that are unusually
significant for documenting major violations of criminal law or ethical
standards are offered to the National Archives for permanent retention.
System manager(s) and address:
Inspector General, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania
Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20580.
Notification procedure:
Under the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552a(d), an individual may request
notification as to whether a system of records contains records
retrieved using his or her personal identifier, may request access to
records in a system of records, and may contest the accuracy or
completeness of records. Each of those actions may be initiated by the
individual by mailing or delivering a written request bearing the
individual's name, return address, and signature, addressed as follows:
Privacy Act Request, Office of the General Counsel, Federal Trade
Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20580. See 16
CFR 4.13(c)-(k).
Record access procedures:
See above.
Contesting record procedure:
See above.
Record source categories:
Employees or other individuals on whom the record is maintained,
non-target witnesses, FTC and non-FTC records, to the extent necessary
to carry out OIG investigations authorized by 5 U.S.C. app.
Exemptions claimed for the system:
Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(j)(2), records in this system are exempt
from the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552(a), except subsections (b), (c)(1)
and (2), (e)(4)(A) through (F), (e)(6), (7), (9), (10) and (11) and (i)
and corresponding provisions of 16 CFR 4.13, to the extent that a
record in the system of records was compiled for criminal law
enforcement purposes.
Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(k)(2), the system is exempt from 5 U.S.C.
552a(c)(3), (d), (e)(1), (e)(4)(G), (H) and (I) and (f) and the
corresponding provisions of 16 CFR 4.13, to the extent the system of
records consists of investigatory material compiled for law enforcement
purposes, other than material within the scope of the exemption at 5
U.S.C. 552a(j)(2).
See 16 CFR 4.13(m), as amended.
By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 05-14904 Filed 7-26-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P