[Federal Register: April 15, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 73)]
[Notices]
[Page 20007-20008]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr15ap04-67]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[0PPT-2003-0052; FRL-7323-8]
TSCA Confidential Business Information; Revised Security
Manual;Notice of Availability
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: EPA has adopted revisions to its procedures for handling
confidential business information (CBI) under the Toxic Substances
Control Act (TSCA). These revised procedures are set forth in a new
TSCA CBI Protection Manual for Federal employees and contractors, the
availability of which is announced by this notice.
DATES: The requirements of the revised TSCA CBI Protection Manual were
effective January 28, 2004.
ADDRESSES: The revised TSCA CBI Protection Manual is available for the
public to view at the EPA Docket Center (Room B102), EPA West Building,
1301 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20460
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general information contact:
Barbara Cunningham, Director, Environmental Assistance Division
(7408M), Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, Environmental
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460-
0001; telephone number: (202) 554-1404; e-mail address:
TSCA-Hotline@EPA.gov.
For technical information contact: Harry Lewis, Information
Management Division (7407M), Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics,
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.,
Washington, DC 20460-0001; telephone number: (202) 564-8642; e-mail
address: lewis.harry@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. General Information
A. Does this Action Apply to Me?
This action is directed to the public in general. Since other
entities may also be interested, the Agency has not attempted to
describe all the specific entities that may be affected by this action.
If you have any questions regarding the applicability of this action to
a particular entity, consult the technical person listed under FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
B. How Can I Get Copies of this Document and Other Related Information?
1. Docket. EPA has established an official public docket for this
action under docket identification (ID) number OPPT-2003-0052. The
official public docket consists of the documents specifically
referenced in this action, any public comments received, and other
information related to this action. Although a part of the official
docket, the public docket does not include Confidential Business
Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted
by statute. The official public docket is the collection of materials
that is available for public viewing at the EPA Docket Center, Rm.
B102-Reading Room, EPA West, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington,
DC. The EPA Docket Center is open from 8:30 a.m. to
[[Page 20008]]
4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The EPA
Docket Center Reading Room telephone number is (202) 566-1744 and the
telephone number for the OPPT Docket, which is located in EPA Docket
Center, is (202) 566-0280.
2. Electronic access. You may access this Federal Register document
electronically through the EPA Internet under the Federal Register
listings at http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/. The revised TSCA CBI
Protection Manual is available for the public to view at the EPA Docket
Center (Room B102), EPA West Building, 1301 Constitution Avenue, NW,
Washington, DC 20460
An electronic version of the public docket is available through
EPA's electronic public docket and comment system, EPA Dockets. You may
use EPA Dockets at http://www.epa.gov/edocket/ to submit or view public
comments, access the index listing of the contents of the official
public docket, and to access those documents in the public docket that
are available electronically. Although not all docket materials may be
available electronically, you may still access any of the publicly
available docket materials through the docket facility identified in
Unit I.B.1. Once in the system, select ``search,'' then key in the
appropriate docket ID number.
Certain types of information will not be placed in the EPA Dockets.
Information claimed as CBI and other information whose disclosure is
restricted by statute, which is not included in the official public
docket, will not be available for public viewing in EPA's electronic
public docket. EPA's policy is that copyrighted material will not be
placed in EPA's electronic public docket but will be available only in
printed, paper form in the official public docket. To the extent
feasible, publicly available docket materials will be made available in
EPA's electronic public docket. When a document is selected from the
index list in EPA Dockets, the system will identify whether the
document is available for viewing in EPA's electronic public docket.
Although not all docket materials may be available electronically, you
may still access any of the publicly available docket materials through
the docket facility identified in Unit I.B.1. EPA intends to work
towards providing electronic access to all of the publicly available
docket materials through EPA's electronic public docket.
II. What Action is the Agency Taking?
EPA is issuing this notice to announce the availability of the
revised TSCA security manual for Federal employees and contractors. The
revised TSCA CBI Protection Manual supersedes the previous edition of
the TSCA Confidential Business Information Security Manual (April
1995). The revised manual includes changes and refinements in existing
procedures developed since the publication of the previous manual.
Several changes to the manual have been made as a result of EPA's
continuing efforts to improve the procedures for handling TSCA CBI.
None of these changes reduce the overall level of protection afforded
TSCA CBI. Changes and clarifications include the following examples:
(1) Updated and detailed rules for working with TSCA CBI on computers,
including use of the EPA TSCA CBI secure local area network; (2)
clarification that, notwithstanding supplemental administrative access
requirements, legal access to TSCA CBI is conferred to Federal
employees with a job-related need under Section 14 of TSCA; (3) clause
in the Preface providing the Director of the Information Management
Division, OPPT, with the authority to grant exceptions to prescribed
procedures in the Manual in justified ``extraordinary circumstances;''
(4) expansion of the working papers exemption to TSCA CBI Document
Control Officer (DCO) recordkeeping from only allowing an author/
creator exclusive physical possession of their personal papers, to
allowing them to be under the author/creator's control while in the
temporary physical possession of another TSCA CBI authorized person;
(5) clarifying the authority of the OPPT DCO to delegate TSCA CBI
mailouts and receipts to other DCOs at EPA Headquarters; (6) detailed
guidelines incorporating mandatory criteria for working with TSCA CBI
in a personal residence; (7) change from annual audits required for
contractor DCOs, to contractor and Federal baseline comprehensive
audits followed by quadrennial comprehensive audits and annual
transaction audits; and (8) for new-access contractor employees,
replacement of Minimum Background Investigation (MBI) with National
Agency Check and Inquiry (NACI) investigation. The Agency's policy on
revisions to TSCA CBI security manuals was announced in the Federal
Register of November 14, 1985 (50 FR 47108). EPA is publishing this
notice in accordance with the requirements of that policy. EPA is
printing and distributing copies of the revised manual to affected EPA
offices. The provisions of the revised manual were effective January
28, 2004.
List of Subjects
Environmental protection, Confidential business information.
Dated: April 1, 2004.
Charlies M. Auer,
Director, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics.
[FR Doc. 04-8459 Filed 4-14-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-S