Rule2024-28442
Privacy Act Regulation; Exemption for Legal Case Management Records
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
December 5, 2024
Effective
January 6, 2025
Issuing agencies
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
Abstract
This final rule amends Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's 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 234 (Thursday, December 5, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 234 (Thursday, December 5, 2024)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 96531-96532]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-28442]
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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: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: This final rule amends Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's
Privacy Act regulation to exempt a system of records that supports law
enforcement investigations through legal case management.
DATES: This rule is effective January 6, 2025.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Karen Levin (<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#8ee2ebf8e7e0a0e5effcebe0cefeece9eda0e9e1f8"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="e58980938c8bcb8e8497808ba595878286cb828a93">[email protected]</span></a>),
Attorney, Regulatory Affairs Division (<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#bcced9db92dfd3d1d1d9d2c8cffcccdedbdf92dbd3ca"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="9eecfbf9b0fdf1f3f3fbf0eaeddeeefcf9fdb0f9f1e8">[email protected]</span></a>), Office
of the General Counsel, at 202-229-3559, or Shawn Hartley
(<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#573f3625233b322e79243f362039172735303479303821"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="a4ccc5d6d0c8c1dd8ad7ccc5d3cae4d4c6c3c78ac3cbd2">[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 final rule amends the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's
(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 investigatory material compiled for administrative,
civil, and criminal law enforcement purposes.
PBGC's legal authority for this rulemaking 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
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.'' This system of records was last published in the
``Notice'' section of the Federal Register on September 9, 2024, at 89
FR 73196.
This system collects and maintains personally identifiable
information obtained by the Office of General Counsel in matters
involving
[[Page 96532]]
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.
On October 22, 2024 (89 FR 84314), PBGC published a proposed rule
to amend its Privacy Act regulation (29 CFR part 4902) to exempt
certain records that will be maintained in PBGC-19 from certain
provisions of the Privacy Act, and to make other minor changes. PBGC
received no comments on the proposed rule. The final regulation is
unchanged from the proposed regulation except for editorial changes to
conform some system names.
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
contained in ``PBGC-17, Office of Inspector General Investigative File
System,'' and records of insider threat investigations conducted by
PBGC contained in ``PBGC-26, PBGC Insider Threat and Data Loss
Prevention.''
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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 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 final rule amends 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, 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
means that, with respect to records in the system, PBGC is not 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. In addition, this
final rule makes changes to some of the system names previously used in
part 4902 to conform them to the systems of records published in the
Federal Register on September 9, 2024, at 89 FR 73196.
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 final rule under
Executive Order 12866.
PBGC certifies under section 605(b) of the Regulatory Flexibility
Act that this final rule will not have a significant economic impact on
a substantial number of small entities. The rule will only affect the
maintenance and disclosure of information about individuals by PBGC
under the Privacy Act and therefore will 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 is amending 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 continues 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. 4902.10 [Amended]
0
3. In 4902.10, amend paragraph (a) by removing ``--PBGC''.
Sec. 4902.11 [Amended]
0
4. In 4902.11, amend paragraphs (a)(1), (b)(1), and (c)(1) by removing
``--PBGC''.
Sec. 4902.12 [Amended]
0
5. In 4902.12, amend paragraph (a) by removing ``--PBGC''.
Sec. 4902.13 [Redesignated as Sec. 4902.14]
0
6. Redesignate Sec. 4902.13 as Sec. 4902.14.
0
7. 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'' 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 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. 2024-28442 Filed 12-4-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7709-02-P
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