[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