[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 124 (Friday, June 27, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35049-35050]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-16933]
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OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
Extending the Coverage of Energy Statistical Programs under the
Federal Statistical Confidentiality Order
AGENCY: Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of
Management and Budget, Executive Office of the President.
ACTION: Notice of proposed amendment to appendix A of the Federal
Statistical Confidentiality Order.
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SUMMARY: The final Federal Statistical Confidentiality Order announced
in this issue of the Federal Register lists the Energy End Use and
Integrated Statistics Division of the Energy Information Administration
(EIA) as a unit determined by the Office of Management and Budget to be
subject to the coverage of the order. While retaining that Division in
Appendix A (as proposed) in the final order, we are today inviting
further public comment on a proposal to amend Appendix A to include all
of EIA (i.e., to determine, through the analyses prescribed in the
order, which other EIA programs may conform to the confidentiality
standards of that order).
DATES: Comments must be received on or before August 26, 1997.
ADDRESSES: Please address all written comments to Katherine K. Wallman,
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, Washington, D.C.
20503. Comments may be submitted via facsimile to 202/395-7245.
Electronic mail comments may be submitted via SMTP to
[email protected] or via X.400 to G=Katherine, S=Wallman,
PRMD=gov+eop, ADMD+telemail, C=us. Comments submitted via electronic
mail should include the commenter's name, affiliation, postal address,
and email address in the text of the message.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jerry L. Coffey, Office of Information
and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, Washington, D.C. 20503. Inquiries may be
submitted via facsimile to 202/395-7245. Electronic mail inquiries may
be submitted via SMTP to [email protected] or via X.400 to G=Jerry,
S=Coffey, PRMD=gov+eop, ADMD+telemail, C=us. Electronic mail inquiries
should include the commenter's name, affiliation, postal address, and
email address in the text of the message.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
A. Background
The Federal Statistical Confidentiality Order issued by the Office
of Management and Budget (OMB) establishes policies to assure ``fair
information practices'' (as advocated by the Privacy Protection Study
Commission and the Commission on Federal Paperwork) for respondents and
subjects of statistical inquiries, based on the concept of ``functional
separation'' developed by the Privacy Protection Study Commission. The
order permits functional separation to be achieved by two means--1)
identifying an agency or unit that is purely statistical, or 2)
distinguishing statistical from nonstatistical functions within a
single agency or unit.
By establishing a uniform policy for the principal statistical
agencies, this order will reduce public confusion, uncertainty, and
concern about the treatment of confidential statistical information by
different agencies. By establishing consistent rational principles and
processes to buttress confidentiality pledges, the order will eliminate
unsupportable confidentiality claims and ambiguous decision processes
that have created uncertainties under FOIA. Such consistent protection
of confidential statistical information will, in turn, reduce the
perceived risks of more efficient working relationships among
statistical agencies, relationships that can reduce both the cost and
reporting burden imposed by statistical programs.
B. Proposed Amendment to Appendix A
Appendix A of the Federal Statistical Confidentiality Order
contains a list of ``statistical agencies and units'' determined by OMB
to be principally subject to that order and includes a unit of EIA
whose functions are widely considered to be predominantly statistical,
specifically, the Energy End Use and Integrated Statistics (EEUIS)
Division. During review of comments on the proposed order,
consideration was given to other agencies or units that should be
included. In the case of EIA, other units within the agency collect
statistics on petroleum supply and marketing, natural gas, reserves,
coal, electric and renewable energy, and general information about
energy markets. It is not clear that the EEUIS Division is the only
unit in EIA that might operate some exclusively statistical programs.
[[Page 35050]]
Many data collection programs within EIA were originally authorized
to support energy regulation as well as EIA's statistical mission.
However as regulatory programs were terminated, these data collections
were restructured to support statistical priorities alone. While many
of the original statutes were crafted to authorize regulatory data
collections, Congress has repeatedly reauthorized and funded the
restructured (statistical) programs that describe segments of the
energy economy that are no longer regulated.
Amending Appendix A of the Federal Statistical Confidentiality
Order to include all of EIA will set in motion the analyses required by
the order to determine which multiple uses of such programs still
remain and conversely which programs are now justified by statistical
priorities only.
These analyses under Sections 6 and 7 of the order may also
identify statutory provisions that are no longer needed or appropriate,
and clarify the standards of review (e.g., the administrative or
statistical test of practical utility) that should be applied to these
programs under the Paperwork Reduction Act (see, for example, 5 C.F.R.
1320.3(l)).
Accordingly, OMB proposes to amend Appendix A of the Federal
Statistical Confidentiality Order by inserting ``Energy Information
Administration'' in lieu of ``Energy End Use and Integrated Statistics
Division of the Energy Information Administration'' under the heading
``Department of Energy''.
Sally Katzen,
Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
[FR Doc. 97-16933 Filed 6-26-97; 8:45 am]
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