[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 5, Volume 3]
[Revised as of January 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 5CFR1320.6]

[Page 153-154]
 
                    TITLE 5--ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL
 
              CHAPTER III--OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
 
PART 1320--CONTROLLING PAPERWORK BURDENS ON THE PUBLIC--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 1320.6  Public protection.

    (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be 
subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of 
information that is subject to the requirements of this part if:
    (1) The collection of information does not display, in accordance 
with Sec. 1320.3(f) and Sec. 1320.5(b)(1), a currently valid OMB control 
number assigned by the Director in accordance with the Act; or
    (2) The agency fails to inform the potential person who is to 
respond to the collection of information, in accordance with 
Sec. 1320.5(b)(2), that such person is not required to respond to the 
collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB 
control number.
    (b) The protection provided by paragraph (a) of this section may be 
raised in the form of a complete defense, bar, or otherwise to the 
imposition of such penalty at any time during the agency administrative 
process in which such penalty may be imposed or in any judicial action 
applicable thereto.
    (c) Whenever an agency has imposed a collection of information as a 
means for proving or satisfying a condition for the receipt of a benefit 
or the avoidance of a penalty, and the collection of information does 
not display a currently valid OMB control number or inform the potential 
persons who are to respond to the collection of information, as 
prescribed in Sec. 1320.5(b), the agency shall not treat a person's 
failure to comply, in and of itself, as grounds for withholding the 
benefit or imposing the penalty. The agency shall instead permit 
respondents to prove or satisfy the legal conditions in any other 
reasonable manner.
    (1) If OMB disapproves the whole of such a collection of information 
(and the disapproval is not overridden under Sec. 1320.15), the agency 
shall grant the benefit to (or not impose the penalty on) otherwise 
qualified persons without requesting further proof concerning the 
condition.
    (2) If OMB instructs an agency to make a substantive or material 
change to such a collection of information (and the instruction is not 
overridden under Sec. 1320.15), the agency shall permit respondents to 
prove or satisfy the condition by complying with the collection of 
information as so changed.
    (d) Whenever a member of the public is protected from imposition of 
a penalty under this section for failure to comply with a collection of 
information, such penalty may not be imposed by an agency directly, by 
an agency through judicial process, or by any

[[Page 154]]

other person through administrative or judicial process.
    (e) The protection provided by paragraph (a) of this section does 
not preclude the imposition of a penalty on a person for failing to 
comply with a collection of information that is imposed on the person by 
statute--e.g., 26 U.S.C. Sec. 6011(a) (statutory requirement for person 
to file a tax return), 42 U.S.C. Sec. 6938(c) (statutory requirement for 
person to provide notification before exporting hazardous waste).