[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 26 (Thursday, February 9, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10012-10014]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-02664]


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FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION


Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

AGENCY: Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

ACTION: Proposed routine use; request for public comment.

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SUMMARY: The FTC proposes to adopt a new routine use that would permit 
disclosure of the agency's Freedom of Information Act (``FOIA'') 
request and appeal records to the Office of Government Information 
Services (``OGIS''), in order for OGIS to assist FOIA requesters in the 
processing and resolution of their requests and appeals.

DATES: Comments must be submitted by March 13, 2017. This routine use, 
which is being published in proposed form, shall become final and 
effective April 10, 2017, without further notice unless otherwise 
amended or repealed by the Commission on the basis of any comments 
received.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments by 
following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Comments should refer to 
``Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records: FTC File No. P072104'' to 
facilitate the organization of comments. Please file your comment 
online at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/ogisroutineuse by 
following the instructions on the web-based form. If you prefer to file 
your comment on paper, mail or deliver your comment to the following 
address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 
Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite CC-5610 (Annex J), Washington, DC 20580, 
or deliver your comment to the following address: Federal Trade 
Commission, Office of the Secretary, Constitution Center, 400 7th 
Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex J), Washington, DC 20024.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: G. Richard Gold and Alex Tang, 
Attorneys, Office of the General Counsel, FTC, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue 
NW., Washington, DC 20580, (202) 326-2424.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Request for Comments

    You can file a comment online or on paper. Write ``Privacy Act of 
1974; System of Records: FTC File No. P072104'' on your comment. Your 
comment--including your name and your state--will be placed on the 
public record of this proceeding, including, to the extent practicable, 
on the public Commission Web site, at http://www.ftc.gov/os/publiccomments.shtm. As a matter of discretion, the Commission tries to 
remove individuals' home contact information from comments before 
placing them on the Commission Web site.
    Because your comment will be made public, you are solely 
responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any 
sensitive personal information, such as a Social Security number, date 
of birth, driver's license number or other state identification number 
or foreign country equivalent, passport number, financial account 
number, or credit or debit card number. You are also solely responsible 
for making sure that your comment does not include any sensitive health 
information, such as medical records or other individually identifiable 
health information. In addition, do not include any ``[t]rade secret or 
any commercial or financial information which is . . . privileged or 
confidential,'' as discussed in Section 6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 
46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR 4.10(a)(2). In particular, do 
not include competitively sensitive information such as costs, sales 
statistics, inventories, formulas, patterns, devices, manufacturing 
processes, or customer names.
    If you want the Commission to give your comment confidential 
treatment, you must file it in paper form, with a request for 
confidential treatment, and you must follow the procedure explained in 
FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).\1\ Your comment will be kept 
confidential only if the FTC General Counsel grants your request in 
accordance with the law and the public interest. Postal mail addressed 
to the Commission is subject to delay due to heightened security 
screening. As a result, the Commission encourages you to submit your 
comments online. To make sure that the Commission considers your online 
comment, you must file it at https://ftcpublic.commentworks.com/ftc/ogisroutineuse by following the instructions on the web-based form. If 
this Notice appears at http://www.regulations.gov, you also may file a 
comment through that Web site.
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    \1\ In particular, the written request for confidential 
treatment that accompanies the comment must include the factual and 
legal basis for the request, and must identify the specific portions 
of the comment to be withheld from the public record. See FTC Rule 
4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).
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    If you file your comment on paper, write ``Privacy Act of 1974; 
System of Records: FTC File No. P072104'' on your comment and on the 
envelope, and mail it to the following address: Federal Trade 
Commission, Office of the

[[Page 10013]]

Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Suite CC-5610 (Annex J), 
Washington, DC 20580, or deliver your comment to the following address: 
Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Constitution Center, 
400 7th Street SW., 5th Floor, Suite 5610 (Annex J), Washington, DC 
20024. If possible, submit your paper comment to the Commission by 
courier or overnight service.
    The FTC Act and other laws that the Commission administers permit 
the collection of public comments to consider and use in this 
proceeding as appropriate. The Commission will consider all timely and 
responsive public comments that it receives on or before March 13, 
2017. You can find more information, including routine uses permitted 
by the Privacy Act, in the Commission's privacy policy, at http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/privacy.htm.

Analysis To Aid Public Comment

    In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. 552a, this 
document provides public notice that the FTC is proposing to adopt a 
new ``routine use'' to the agency's Privacy Act System of Records 
Notice (``SORN'') on Freedom of Information Act (``FOIA'') Requests and 
Appeals, FTC-V-1.\2\ This routine use will authorize the FTC to 
disclose FOIA request and appeal records covered by FTC-V-1 to the 
Office of Government Information Services (``OGIS''), in order for OGIS 
to assist requesters in the processing and resolution of their requests 
and appeals.
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    \2\ This SORN, and the SORNs for all of the agency's other 
Privacy Act records systems, can be viewed on the FTC's Web site at 
https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/foia/foia-reading-rooms/privacy-act-systems.
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    The OPEN Government Act of 2007 amended the Freedom of Information 
Act and created OGIS within the National Archives and Records 
Administration (``NARA''). The 2007 FOIA amendments require OGIS to 
review agency FOIA policies, procedures, and compliance, and to offer 
mediation services to resolve disputes between FOIA requesters and 
agencies. See 5 U.S.C. 552(h).
    In order for OGIS to fulfill its statutory responsibilities, it 
requires access to FOIA request files originated and maintained by 
federal agencies including the FTC. However, because the FOIA request 
and appeal records covered by FTC-V-1 are governed by the Privacy Act 
of 1974, their disclosure normally requires the prior written consent 
of the individual to whom the records pertain (including, for example, 
an individual filing a FOIA request), unless the agency has published a 
routine use authorizing disclosure.
    The Privacy Act authorizes the agency to adopt routine uses that 
are consistent with the purpose for which information is collected. 5 
U.S.C. 552a(b)(3); see also 5 U.S.C. 552a(a)(7). The FTC believes that 
it is consistent with the purposes for which the FOIA request and 
appeal records covered by FTC-V-1 are collected to disclose such 
records routinely to OGIS to help OGIS mediate between individual FOIA 
requesters and agencies and ensure compliance with the FOIA statute. If 
agencies do not establish a ``routine use'' to provide for this 
proposed disclosure, OGIS would have to obtain the written consent of 
the individual FOIA requesters in order to obtain the access it 
requires to assist that requester. Simplifying the procedure for 
exchanging information would increase the efficiency of the FOIA 
administrative process. FTC staff understands that obtaining such 
consent has proven more complicated in some circumstances, e.g., when 
an agency, rather than the individual FOIA requester, seeks OGIS's 
assistance to mediate between the agency and the individual FOIA 
requester. Accordingly, the Commission concludes that it is authorized 
under the Privacy Act to adopt a routine use permitting disclosure of 
Privacy Act records for such purposes.
    In accordance with the Privacy Act, see 5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(4) and 
(11), the FTC is publishing notice of this routine use and giving the 
public a 30-day period to comment before adopting it as final. The FTC 
has provided advance notice of this proposed system notice amendment to 
OMB and the Congress, as required by the Act, 5 U.S.C. 552a(r), and OMB 
Circular A-108 (2016). The text of the proposed routine use is taken 
from the routine use that has already been published in final form by 
the Department of Justice after public comment. See 77 FR 26580 (May 4, 
2012). Accordingly, as set forth below, the Commission proposes a new 
routine use to become effective on the date noted earlier, unless the 
Commission amends or revokes the routine use on the basis of any 
comments received.
    In light of the updated SORN template set forth in the newly 
revised OMB Circular A-108, the FTC is reprinting the text of the 
entire SORN, including the proposed new routine use, for the public's 
benefit, to read as follows:
* * * * *

V. FTC Access Requests

SYSTEM NAME AND NUMBER:
    Freedom of Information Act Requests and Appeals-FTC (FTC-V-1).

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
    Not applicable.

SYSTEM LOCATION:
    Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, 
DC 20580. See Appendix III for other locations where records may be 
maintained or accessed.

SYSTEM MANAGER(S):
    FOIA/PA Supervisor, Office of General Counsel, Federal Trade 
Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20580.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
    Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.; Freedom of 
Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552.

PURPOSE(S) OF THE SYSTEM:
    To consider requests and appeals for access to records under the 
Freedom of Information Act; to determine the status of requested 
records; to respond to the requests and appeals; to make copies of FOIA 
requests and frequently requested records available publicly, under the 
FTC's Rules of Practice and FOIA; to maintain records, documenting the 
consideration and disposition of the requests for reporting, analysis, 
and recordkeeping purposes.

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
    Individuals filing requests for access to information under the 
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA); individuals named in the FOIA 
request; FTC staff assigned to help process, consider, and respond to 
such requests, including any appeals.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
    Communications (e.g., letters, emails) to and from the requesting 
party; agency documents generated or collected during processing and 
consideration of the request, including scanned copies of materials 
responsive to the FOIA request.

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
    Individual about whom the record is maintained and agency staff 
assigned to help process, review, or respond to the access request, 
including any appeal.

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES 
OF USERS AND THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:
    (1) Request and appeal letters, and agency letters responding 
thereto, are

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placed on the FTC's public record and available to the public for 
routine inspection and copying. See FTC-I-6 (Public Records-FTC).
    (2) As required by the FOIA, records that have been ``frequently 
requested'' and disclosed under the FOIA within the meaning of that 
Act, as determined by the FTC, are made available to the public for 
routine inspection and copying. See FTC-I-6 (Public Records-FTC).
    (3) Disclosure to the National Archives and Records Administration, 
Office of Government Information Services (OGIS), to the extent 
necessary to fulfill its responsibilities in 5 U.S.C. 552(h), to review 
administrative agency policies, procedures, and compliance with the 
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and to facilitate OGIS's offering of 
mediation services to resolve disputes between persons making FOIA 
requests and administrative agencies.
    See also Appendix I for other ways that the Privacy Act permits the 
FTC to use or disclose system records outside the agency.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORAGE OF RECORDS:
    Records are maintained electronically using a commercial software 
application run on the agency's internal servers. Temporary paper files 
are destroyed once the request is complete.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR RETRIEVAL OF RECORDS:
    Indexed by name of requesting party and subject matter of request. 
Records can also be searched by name, address, phone number, fax 
number, and email of the requesting party, subject matter of the 
request, requestor organization, FOIA number, and staff member assigned 
to the request.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR RETENTION AND DISPOSAL OF RECORDS:
    Records are retained and disposed of in accordance with General 
Records Schedule 14.11-14.15, issued by the National Archives and 
Records Administration.

ADMINISTRATIVE, TECHNICAL, AND PHYSICAL SAFEGUARDS:
    Requests, appeals, and responses available to the public, as 
described above. Access to nonpublic system records is restricted to 
FTC personnel or contractors whose responsibilities require access. 
Nonpublic paper records are temporary, maintained in lockable file 
cabinets or offices, and destroyed once the request is complete. Access 
to electronic records is controlled by ``user ID'' and password 
combination and other electronic access or network controls (e.g., 
firewalls). FTC buildings are guarded and monitored by security 
personnel, cameras, ID checks, and other physical security measures.

RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:
    See Appendix II.

CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES:
    See Appendix II.

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES:
    See Appendix II.

EXEMPTIONS PROMULGATED FOR THE SYSTEM:
    Records contained in this system that have been placed on the FTC 
public record are available upon request, as discussed above. However, 
pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(k)(2), records in this system, which reflect 
records that are contained in other systems of records that are 
designated as exempt, are exempt from the requirements of subsections 
(c)(3), (d), (e)(1), (e)(4)(G), (H), (I), and (f) of 5 U.S.C. 552a. See 
Sec.  4.13(m) of the FTC Rules of Practice, 16 CFR 4.13(m).

History:
    73 FR 33591-33634 (June 12, 2008).

    By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2017-02664 Filed 2-8-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6750-01-P