[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 73 (Thursday, April 15, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20007-20008]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-8459]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[0PPT-2003-0052; FRL-7323-8]


TSCA Confidential Business Information; Revised Security 
Manual;Notice of Availability

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: EPA has adopted revisions to its procedures for handling 
confidential business information (CBI) under the Toxic Substances 
Control Act (TSCA). These revised procedures are set forth in a new 
TSCA CBI Protection Manual for Federal employees and contractors, the 
availability of which is announced by this notice.

DATES: The requirements of the revised TSCA CBI Protection Manual were 
effective January 28, 2004.

ADDRESSES: The revised TSCA CBI Protection Manual is available for the 
public to view at the EPA Docket Center (Room B102), EPA West Building, 
1301 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20460

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  For general information contact: 
Barbara Cunningham, Director, Environmental Assistance Division 
(7408M), Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, Environmental 
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460-
0001; telephone number: (202) 554-1404; e-mail address: [email protected].
    For technical information contact: Harry Lewis, Information 
Management Division (7407M), Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., 
Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number: (202) 564-8642; e-mail 
address: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. General Information

A. Does this Action Apply to Me?

    This action is directed to the public in general. Since other 
entities may also be interested, the Agency has not attempted to 
describe all the specific entities that may be affected by this action. 
If you have any questions regarding the applicability of this action to 
a particular entity, consult the technical person listed under FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

B. How Can I Get Copies of this Document and Other Related Information?

    1. Docket. EPA has established an official public docket for this 
action under docket identification (ID) number OPPT-2003-0052. The 
official public docket consists of the documents specifically 
referenced in this action, any public comments received, and other 
information related to this action. Although a part of the official 
docket, the public docket does not include Confidential Business 
Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted 
by statute. The official public docket is the collection of materials 
that is available for public viewing at the EPA Docket Center, Rm. 
B102-Reading Room, EPA West, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, 
DC. The EPA Docket Center is open from 8:30 a.m. to

[[Page 20008]]

4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The EPA 
Docket Center Reading Room telephone number is (202) 566-1744 and the 
telephone number for the OPPT Docket, which is located in EPA Docket 
Center, is (202) 566-0280.
    2. Electronic access. You may access this Federal Register document 
electronically through the EPA Internet under the Federal Register 
listings at http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/. The revised TSCA CBI 
Protection Manual is available for the public to view at the EPA Docket 
Center (Room B102), EPA West Building, 1301 Constitution Avenue, NW, 
Washington, DC 20460
    An electronic version of the public docket is available through 
EPA's electronic public docket and comment system, EPA Dockets. You may 
use EPA Dockets at http://www.epa.gov/edocket/ to submit or view public 
comments, access the index listing of the contents of the official 
public docket, and to access those documents in the public docket that 
are available electronically. Although not all docket materials may be 
available electronically, you may still access any of the publicly 
available docket materials through the docket facility identified in 
Unit I.B.1. Once in the system, select ``search,'' then key in the 
appropriate docket ID number.
    Certain types of information will not be placed in the EPA Dockets. 
Information claimed as CBI and other information whose disclosure is 
restricted by statute, which is not included in the official public 
docket, will not be available for public viewing in EPA's electronic 
public docket. EPA's policy is that copyrighted material will not be 
placed in EPA's electronic public docket but will be available only in 
printed, paper form in the official public docket. To the extent 
feasible, publicly available docket materials will be made available in 
EPA's electronic public docket. When a document is selected from the 
index list in EPA Dockets, the system will identify whether the 
document is available for viewing in EPA's electronic public docket. 
Although not all docket materials may be available electronically, you 
may still access any of the publicly available docket materials through 
the docket facility identified in Unit I.B.1. EPA intends to work 
towards providing electronic access to all of the publicly available 
docket materials through EPA's electronic public docket.

II. What Action is the Agency Taking?

    EPA is issuing this notice to announce the availability of the 
revised TSCA security manual for Federal employees and contractors. The 
revised TSCA CBI Protection Manual supersedes the previous edition of 
the TSCA Confidential Business Information Security Manual (April 
1995). The revised manual includes changes and refinements in existing 
procedures developed since the publication of the previous manual. 
Several changes to the manual have been made as a result of EPA's 
continuing efforts to improve the procedures for handling TSCA CBI. 
None of these changes reduce the overall level of protection afforded 
TSCA CBI. Changes and clarifications include the following examples: 
(1) Updated and detailed rules for working with TSCA CBI on computers, 
including use of the EPA TSCA CBI secure local area network; (2) 
clarification that, notwithstanding supplemental administrative access 
requirements, legal access to TSCA CBI is conferred to Federal 
employees with a job-related need under Section 14 of TSCA; (3) clause 
in the Preface providing the Director of the Information Management 
Division, OPPT, with the authority to grant exceptions to prescribed 
procedures in the Manual in justified ``extraordinary circumstances;'' 
(4) expansion of the working papers exemption to TSCA CBI Document 
Control Officer (DCO) recordkeeping from only allowing an author/
creator exclusive physical possession of their personal papers, to 
allowing them to be under the author/creator's control while in the 
temporary physical possession of another TSCA CBI authorized person; 
(5) clarifying the authority of the OPPT DCO to delegate TSCA CBI 
mailouts and receipts to other DCOs at EPA Headquarters; (6) detailed 
guidelines incorporating mandatory criteria for working with TSCA CBI 
in a personal residence; (7) change from annual audits required for 
contractor DCOs, to contractor and Federal baseline comprehensive 
audits followed by quadrennial comprehensive audits and annual 
transaction audits; and (8) for new-access contractor employees, 
replacement of Minimum Background Investigation (MBI) with National 
Agency Check and Inquiry (NACI) investigation. The Agency's policy on 
revisions to TSCA CBI security manuals was announced in the Federal 
Register of November 14, 1985 (50 FR 47108). EPA is publishing this 
notice in accordance with the requirements of that policy. EPA is 
printing and distributing copies of the revised manual to affected EPA 
offices. The provisions of the revised manual were effective January 
28, 2004.

List of Subjects

    Environmental protection, Confidential business information.

    Dated: April 1, 2004.
Charlies M. Auer,
Director, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics.
[FR Doc. 04-8459 Filed 4-14-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-S