Proposed Rule2024-24210
Privacy Act Regulation; Exemption for Legal Case Management Records
Primary source
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Published
October 22, 2024
Issuing agencies
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
Abstract
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is proposing to amend its Privacy Act regulation to exempt a system of records that supports law enforcement investigations through legal case management.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 204 (Tuesday, October 22, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 204 (Tuesday, October 22, 2024)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 84314-84316]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-24210]
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PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY CORPORATION
29 CFR Part 4902
RIN 1212-AB59
Privacy Act Regulation; Exemption for Legal Case Management
Records
AGENCY: Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
ACTION: Proposed rule.
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SUMMARY: The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is proposing to amend
its Privacy Act regulation to exempt a system of records that supports
law enforcement investigations through legal case management.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before November 21, 2024 to be
assured of consideration.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted by any of the following methods:
<bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
<bullet> Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#394b5c5e175a5654545c574d4a79495b5e5a175e564f"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="423027256c212d2f2f272c363102322025216c252d34">[email protected]</span></a>. Refer to RIN 1212-AB59 in
the subject line.
<bullet> Mail or Hand Delivery: Regulatory Affairs Division, Office
of the General Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 445 12th
Street SW, Washington, DC 20024-2101.
Commenters are strongly encouraged to submit comments
electronically. Commenters who submit comments on paper by mail should
allow sufficient time for mailed comments to be received before the
close of the comment period. All submissions must include the agency's
name (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation or PBGC), the title for this
rulemaking (Privacy Act Regulation; Exemption for Legal Case Management
Records), and the Regulation Identifier Number for this rulemaking (RIN
1212-AB59).
Comments received will be posted without change to PBGC's website,
<a href="http://www.pbgc.gov">www.pbgc.gov</a>, including any personal information provided. Do not
submit comments that include any personally identifiable information or
confidential business information.
Copies of comments may also be obtained by writing to Disclosure
Division, Office of the General Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty
Corporation, 445 12th Street SW, Washington, DC 20024-2101, or calling
202-326-4040 during normal business hours. If you are deaf or hard of
hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access
telecommunications relay services.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Karen Levin (<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#7b171e0d121555101a091e153b0b191c18551c140d"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="157970637c7b3b7e7467707b55657772763b727a63">[email protected]</span></a>),
Attorney, Regulatory Affairs Division (<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#cebcaba9e0ada1a3a3aba0babd8ebeaca9ade0a9a1b8"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="a3d1c6c48dc0cccecec6cdd7d0e3d3c1c4c08dc4ccd5">[email protected]</span></a>), Office
of the General Counsel, at 202-229-3559, or Shawn Hartley
(<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#1e767f6c6a727b67306d767f69705e6e7c797d30797168"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="244c45565048415d0a574c45534a64544643470a434b52">[email protected]</span></a>), Chief Privacy Officer, Office of the General
Counsel, at 202-229-6321. If you are deaf or hard of hearing, or have a
speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay
services.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Executive Summary
This proposed rule would amend PBGC's regulation on Disclosure and
Amendment of Records Pertaining to Individuals under the Privacy Act
(29 CFR part 4902) to exempt from disclosure information contained in a
system of records for PBGC's Office of Negotiations and Restructuring/
Office of General Counsel Case Management System. The exemption is
needed because records in this system include
[[Page 84315]]
investigatory material compiled for administrative, civil, and criminal
law enforcement purposes.
Legal authority for this proposed rule is provided by section
4002(b)(3) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974
(ERISA) and 5 U.S.C. 552a(k)(2).
Background
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) administers two
insurance programs for private-sector defined benefit pension plans
under title IV of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974
(ERISA): a single-employer plan termination insurance program and a
multiemployer plan insolvency insurance program. In addition, PBGC
administers a special financial assistance program for certain
financially distressed multiemployer plans.
As a Federal agency, PBGC is subject to the Privacy Act of 1974, 5
U.S.C. 552a (Privacy Act), in its collection, maintenance, use, and
dissemination of any personally identifiable information that it
maintains in a ``system of records.'' A system of records is defined
under the Privacy Act as ``a group of any records under the control of
any agency from which information is retrieved by the name of the
individual or by some identifying number, symbol, or other identifying
particular assigned to the individual.'' \1\
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\1\ See 5 U.S.C. 552a(a)(5)
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PBGC previously established a system of records, ``PBGC-19, Office
of Negotiations and Restructuring/Office of General Counsel Case
Management System--PBGC.'' This system of records was last published in
the ``Notice'' section of the Federal Register on September 1, 2021, at
86 FR 49061.
This system collects and maintains personally identifiable
information obtained by the Office of General Counsel in matters
involving administrative, civil, or criminal law enforcement
investigations. Records from this system are used on a need-to-know
basis to manage various legal matters; to facilitate administrative,
civil, or criminal law enforcement investigations and activities; to
receive referrals for investigation from internal and external
partners; to meet other Office of General Counsel program requirements;
and to investigate/manage cases involving violations of administrative,
civil, or criminal laws.
Exemption
Under section 552a(k) of the Privacy Act, PBGC may promulgate
regulations exempting information contained in certain systems of
records from specified sections of the Privacy Act including the
section mandating disclosure of information to an individual who has
requested it. Among other systems, PBGC may exempt a system that is
``investigatory material compiled for law enforcement purposes.'' \2\
Under this provision, PBGC has exempted, in Sec. Sec. 4902.10,
4902.11, and 4902.12 of its Privacy Act regulation, records of the
investigations conducted by its Personnel Security Department contained
in ``PBGC-12, Personnel Security Investigation Records,'' records of
the investigations conducted by the Office of Inspector General and
contained in ``PBGC-17, Office of Inspector General Investigative File
System--PBGC,'' and records of insider threat investigations conducted
by PBGC contained in ``PBGC-26, PBGC Insider Threat and Data Loss
Prevention--PBGC.''
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\2\ See 5 U.S.C. 552a(k)(2).
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The PBGC-19, Office of Negotiations and Restructuring/Office of
General Counsel Case Management System--PBGC system contains: (1)
records derived from the Office of Inspector General, Personnel
Security, or insider threat investigations, (2) summaries or reports
containing information about administrative, civil, and criminal legal
investigations, (3) information related to investigative or analytical
efforts by PBGC legal, security, or law enforcement personnel, (4)
reports about potential administrative, civil, or criminal law
enforcement activities obtained through the management and operation of
the Office of General Counsel, and (5) reports about potential civil or
criminal legal investigations obtained from other Federal Government
sources involving PBGC. The records contained in this system include
investigative material of actual, potential, or alleged criminal,
civil, or administrative violations and law enforcement actions. These
records are within the material permitted to be exempted under section
552a(k)(2) of the Privacy Act.
This proposed rule would amend PBGC's Privacy Act regulation to
redesignate Sec. 4902.13 (Filing rules; computation of time) as Sec.
4902.14 and to add a new Sec. 4902.13 as an exemption for PBGC-19,
Office of Negotiations and Restructuring/Office of General Counsel Case
Management System--PBGC, from 5 U.S.C. 552a(c)(3), (d), (e)(1),
(e)(4)(G), (H), and (I) and (f). Exemption from these sections of the
Privacy Act would mean that, with respect to records in the system,
PBGC would not be required to: (1) disclose records to an individual
upon request, (2) keep an accounting of individuals who request
records, (3) maintain only records as necessary to accomplish an agency
purpose, or (4) publish notice of certain revisions of the system of
records.
Compliance With Rulemaking Guidelines
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has determined that this
rulemaking is not a ``significant regulatory action'' under Executive
Order 12866. Accordingly, OMB has not reviewed the proposed rule under
Executive Order 12866.
PBGC certifies under section 605(b) of the Regulatory Flexibility
Act that the proposed rule, if adopted, would not have a significant
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. The rule
would only affect the maintenance and disclosure of information about
individuals by PBGC under the Privacy Act and therefore would have no
economic impact on entities of any size. Accordingly, sections 603 and
604 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act do not apply. See 5 U.S.C. 603,
604.
List of Subjects in 29 CFR Part 4902
Privacy.
In consideration of the foregoing, PBGC proposes to amend 29 CFR
part 4902 as follows:
PART 4902--DISCLOSURE AND AMENDMENT OF RECORDS PERTAINING TO
INDIVIDUALS UNDER THE PRIVACY ACT
0
1. The authority citation for part 4902 will continue to read as
follows:
Authority: 5 U.S.C. 552a, 29 U.S.C. 1302(b)(3).
Sec. 4902.1 [Amended]
0
2. In Sec. 4902.1, amend paragraph (d) by removing ``4902.12'' and
adding in its place ``4902.13''.
Sec. 4902.13 [Redesignated as Sec. 4902.14]
0
3. Redesignate Sec. 4902.13 as Sec. 4902.14.
0
4. Add new Sec. 4902.13 to read as follows:
Sec. 4902.13 Specific exemptions: Legal Case Management.
(a) Exemption. Under the authority granted by 5 U.S.C. 552a(k)(2),
PBGC hereby exempts the system of records entitled ``PBGC-19, Office of
Negotiations and Restructuring/Office of General Counsel Case
Management System-PBGC'' from the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552a(c)(3),
(d), (e)(1), (e)(4)(G), (H), and (I) and (f).
(b) Reasons for exemption. The reasons for asserting this exemption
are
[[Page 84316]]
because the disclosure and other requirements of the Privacy Act could
substantially compromise the efficacy and integrity of PBGC's ability
to investigate administrative, civil, or criminal legal matters.
Disclosure could invade the privacy of individuals and disclose their
identity when they were expressly promised confidentiality. Disclosure
could interfere with the integrity of information which would otherwise
be subject to legal privileges, see, e.g., 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(5), and
which could interfere with other important law enforcement concerns,
see, e.g., 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(7).
Issued in Washington, DC.
Ann Y. Orr,
Acting Director, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
[FR Doc. 2024-24210 Filed 10-21-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7709-02-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on October 22, 2024.
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