[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 18 (Wednesday, January 28, 1998)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 4195-4197]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-1923]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Office of the Secretary
49 CFR Part 10
[Docket No. OST-96-1472]
RIN: 2105-AC68
Privacy Act; Implementation
AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, DOT.
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: DOT amends its rules implementing the Privacy Act of 1974 to
exempt from certain provisions of the Act the Coast Guard's Marine
Safety Information System.
DATES: This amendment is effective February 27, 1998.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert I. Ross, Office of the General
Counsel, C-10, Department of Transportation, Washington, DC 20590,
telephone (202) 366-9156, FAX (202) 366-9170.
[[Page 4196]]
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Regulatory History
On November 28, 1997, the Department published a notice of proposed
rulemaking entitled, Privacy Act; Implementation in the Federal
Register (62 FR 63304). The Department did not receive any comments on
the proposed rulemaking.
Background
The Coast Guard's Marine Safety Information System (MSIS) collects
selected information on commercial and/or documented vessels operating
in US waters, and collects and manages the data needed to monitor the
safety performance of maritime vessels and facilities with which the
Coast Guard comes into contact while performing its marine safety
functions. It also monitors the identities of individuals and
corporations that own or operate these vessels, and, if appropriate,
aids the Coast Guard to develop law enforcement actions against such
vessels, facilities, individuals, and corporations.
MSIS consolidates information from three other Coast Guard Privacy
Act record systems: DOT/CG 561, Port Safety Reporting System
(Individual Violation Histories); and DOT/CG 587, Investigations of
Violations of Marine Safety Laws, and the automated, but not the
manual, portions of DOT/CG 590, Merchant Vessel Casualty Reporting
System. It also encompasses the automated, but not the manual, portions
of DOT/CG 591, Merchant Vessel Documentation System.
Because of the capability to retrieve information by the names or
other unique identifiers of individuals, MSIS is subject to the Privacy
Act, which imposes many restrictions on the use and dissemination of
information in the system. However, because MSIS can be used for law
enforcement purposes, it is exempted from some of these restrictions.
This rule is being published as a final rule and is being made
effective on February 15, 1998. Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553, good cause
exists for promulgating this rule and for making this rule effective
less than 30 days after publication in the Federal Register. The Coast
Guard is scheduled to commence Operational Testing and Evaluation for
the Vessel Identification System (VIS), a congressionally mandated
project, on February 15, 1998. VIS will incorporate specific vessel
documentation information from the MSIS. The completion of this
operational test is essential to the deployment of the VIS. Making the
final rule effective at the time of the commencement of the operational
test will significantly improve the transition to the VIS and negate
any unintended consequences of not meeting the Congressional Mandate.
Delaying the test may have adverse effects on the development and
implementation of the VIS. Further, because the test will only involve
a limited number of state administrators, and the information contained
in VIS will be destroyed following the completion of the test, no
adverse impacts are expected. For these reasons, the Coast Guard finds
good cause, under 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3), that the effective date of this
rule should be made effective in less than 30 days after publication.
Privacy Act exemption
Under subsection (k) of the Privacy Act (5 USC 552a(k)), qualifying
records may be exempted from various provisions of the Act. Among these
provisions are the requirement in subsection (c)(3) to maintain an
accounting of disclosures of information from a system of records and
make that accounting available on request to the record subject; in
subsection (d) to grant to a record subject access to information
maintained on him/her under the Act; in subsection (e)(1) to maintain
only such information as is relevant and necessary to accomplish a
purpose of the agency under statute or Executive Order; in subsection
(e)(4)(G), (e)(4)(H), and (e)(4)(I) to advise record subjects of the
agency procedures to request if a system of records contains records
pertaining to them, how they can gain access to such records and
contest their content, and the categories of sources of such records;
and in subsection (f) to establish rules governing the procedures
above.
Under Subsection (k)(2) of the Privacy Act (5 USC 552a(k)(2)),
investigatory material compiled for law enforcement purposes, other
than material encompassed within Subsection (j)(2), may be exempted
from these provisions, and DOT proposes to exempt MSIS accordingly;
however, if an individual would be denied any right, privilege, or
benefit to which he/she would otherwise be entitled by Federal law, of
for which he/she would otherwise be eligible, as a result of the
maintenance of such material, such material shall be provided to such
individual, except to the extent that the disclosure of such material
would reveal the identity of a source who furnished information to the
Government under an express promise that the identity of the source
would be held in confidence.
DOT proposed to exempt MSIS from these provisions and invited
public comment; none was received. DOT therefore is making its proposal
final as written.
Analysis of regulatory impacts
This rule is not a ``significant regulatory action'' within the
meaning of Executive Order 12866. It is also not significant within the
definition in DOT's Regulatory Policies and Procedures, 49 FR 11034
(1979), in part because it does not involve any change in important
Departmental policies. Because the economic impact should be minimal,
further regulatory evaluation is not necessary. Moreover, I certify
that this rule will not have a significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities, because the reporting
requirements, themselves, are not changed and because it applies only
to information on individuals.
This rule does not significantly affect the environment, and
therefore an environmental impact statement is not required under the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. It has also been reviewed
under Executive Order 12612, Federalism, and it has been determined
that it does not have sufficient implications for federalism to warrant
preparation of a Federalism Assessment.
Collection of Information
This rule contains no collection of information requirements under
the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).
Unfunded Mandates
Title II of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (UMRA), (Pub.
L. 104-4, 109 Stat. 48), requires Federal agencies to assess the
effects of certain regulatory actions on State, local, and tribal
governments, and the private sector. UMRA requires a written statement
of economic and regulatory alternatives for proposed and final rules
that contain Federal mandates. A ``Federal mandate,'' is a new or
additional enforceable duty, imposed on any State, local, or tribal
government, or the private sector. If any Federal mandate causes those
entities, to spend, in aggregate, $100 million or more in any one year
the UMRA analysis is required. This rule does not impose Federal
mandates on any State, local or tribal governments or the private
sector.
List of Subjects in 49 CFR Part 10
Penalties, Privacy.
Accordingly, DOT amends 49 CFR part 10 as follows:
PART 10--[AMENDED]
1. The authority citation to part 10 continues to read as follows:
[[Page 4197]]
Authority: 5 USC 552a; 49 USC 322.
2. Part II.A of the Appendix is amended by republishing the
introductory text and by adding a new paragraph 16, to read as follows:
* * * * *
APPENDIX TO PART 10--EXEMPTIONS
* * * * *
Part II. Specific exemptions.
A. The following systems of records are exempt from subsection
(c)(3) (Accounting of Certain Disclosures), (d) (Access to Records),
(e)(4)(G), (H), and (I) (Agency Requirements), and (f) (Agency
Rules) of 5 USC 552a, to the extent that they contain investigatory
material compiled for law enforcement purposes in accordance with 5
USC 552a(k)(2):
* * * * *
16. Marine Safety Information System, maintained by the
Operations Systems Center, U.S. Coast Guard (DOT/CG 588). The
purpose of this exemption is to prevent persons who are the subjects
of criminal investigations from learning too early in the
investigative process that they are subjects, what information there
is in Coast Guard files that indicates that they may have committed
unlawful conduct, and who provided such information.
* * * * *
Issued in Washington, DC, on January 20, 1998.
Rodney Slater,
Secretary of Transportation.
[FR Doc. 98-1923 Filed 1-27-98; 8:45 am]
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