[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 29 (Friday, February 11, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7893-7894]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-3101]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Federal Aviation Administration
FAA Policy Statement on Expungement of Certain Enforcement
Actions
AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration, DOT.
ACTION: Policy statement.
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SUMMARY: The FAA has temporarily suspended its policy of expunging
certain records of legal enforcement actions against individuals in
order to ensure compliance with recent amendments to the Pilot Records
Improvement Act.
[[Page 7894]]
DATES: This policy became effective November 1, 2010.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: A frequently asked questions (FAQ) page about
the suspension of the expunction policy and its effects on pilots is
available at: http://www.faa.gov/pilots/lic_cert/pria/guidance/pilotfaq. Further questions may be directed to [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background: In 1991, the FAA adopted a
policy of expunging records of certain closed legal enforcement actions
against individuals, see 56 FR 55,788 (Oct. 29, 1991). This includes
both airman certificate holders and non-holders, such as passengers.
Among other things, the policy provides that, in general, records of
legal enforcement actions involving suspension of an airman certificate
or a civil penalty against an individual are maintained for five years,
then expunged. Cases closed with no enforcement action are expunged
within ninety days. In addition, the FAA has a policy of expunging
records of administrative actions after two years that was in existence
at the time of and was left unchanged by the adoption of the 1991
expunction policy.
On August 1, 2010, the Airline Safety and Federal Aviation
Administration Extension Act of 2010, Public Law 111-216, 124 Stat.
2348 (2010) (``Act''), was signed into law. The Act amends the Pilot
Records Improvement Act (``PRIA'') by requiring the FAA to create a
pilot records database. Air carriers will use this database to perform
background checks on pilots before hiring them, as required by PRIA.
The database will contain various types of records, including summaries
of legal enforcement actions against individuals resulting in a finding
by the FAA Administrator of a violation. These records must be kept by
the FAA until it receives notice that the individual is deceased. The
requirement to keep these records began on the date of the law's
enactment, August 1, 2010.
The five-year expunction of certain legal enforcement action
records is not consistent with the Act's amendments to PRIA. Although
the requirement to maintain the records began on August 1, 2010, the
FAA last expunged on November 1, 2010, as we began determining which
records must be kept in order to comply with the law. The November 1,
2010 expunction covered records from scheduled for expunction during
October. We will continue to expunge records of administrative actions
and cases with no enforcement action, as PRIA does not require the FAA
to put this information in the pilot record database. The FAA will
determine the full effect of the Act's requirements on the expunction
policy and will amend its expunction policy accordingly. The details of
the amended expunction policy will be published in the Federal
Register.
Issued in Washington, DC on February 4, 2011.
J. Randolph Babbitt,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2011-3101 Filed 2-10-11; 8:45 am]
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