[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 36, Volume 3]
[Revised as of July 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 36CFR800.11]

[Page 110-111]
 
              TITLE 36--PARKS, FORESTS, AND PUBLIC PROPERTY
 
                     CHAPTER VIII--ADVISORY COUNCIL
                        ON HISTORIC PRESERVATION
 
PART 800--PROTECTION OF HISTORIC PROPERTIES--Table of Contents
 
                   Subpart B--The section 106 Process
 
Sec. 800.11  Documentation standards.

    (a) Adequacy of documentation. The agency official shall ensure that 
a determination, finding, or agreement under the procedures in this 
subpart is supported by sufficient documentation to enable any reviewing 
parties to understand its basis. The agency official shall provide such 
documentation to the extent permitted by law and within available funds. 
When an agency official is conducting phased identification or 
evaluation under this subpart, the documentation standards regarding 
description of historic properties may be applied flexibly. If the 
Council, or the SHPO/THPO when the Council is not involved, determines 
the applicable documentation standards are not met, the Council or the 
SHPO/THPO, as appropriate, shall notify the agency official and specify 
the information needed to meet the standard. At the request of the 
agency official or any of the consulting parties, the Council shall 
review any disputes over whether documentation standards are met and 
provide its views to the agency official and the consulting parties.
    (b) Format. The agency official may use documentation prepared to 
comply with other laws to fulfill the requirements of the procedures in 
this subpart, if that documentation meets the standards of this section.
    (c) Confidentiality. (1) Authority to withhold information. Section 
304 of the act provides that the head of a Federal agency or other 
public official receiving grant assistance pursuant to the act, after 
consultation with the Secretary, shall withhold from public disclosure 
information about the location, character, or ownership of a historic 
property when disclosure may cause a significant invasion of privacy; 
risk harm to the historic property; or impede the use of a traditional 
religious site by practitioners. When the head of a Federal agency or 
other public official has determined that information should be withheld 
from the public pursuant to these criteria, the Secretary, in 
consultation with such Federal agency head or official, shall determine 
who may have access to the information for the purposes of carrying out 
the act.
    (2) Consultation with the Council. When the information in question 
has been developed in the course of an agency's compliance with this 
part, the Secretary shall consult with the Council in reaching 
determinations on the withholding and release of information. The 
Federal agency shall provide the Council with available information, 
including views of the SHPO/THPO, Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian 
organizations, related to the confidentiality concern. The Council shall 
advise the Secretary and the Federal agency within 30 days of receipt of 
adequate documentation.
    (3) Other authorities affecting confidentiality. Other Federal laws 
and program requirements may limit public access to information 
concerning an undertaking and its effects on historic properties. Where 
applicable, those authorities shall govern public access to information 
developed in the section 106 process and may authorize the agency

[[Page 111]]

official to protect the privacy of non-governmental applicants.
    (d) Finding of no historic properties affected. Documentation shall 
include:
    (1) A description of the undertaking, specifying the Federal 
involvement, and its area of potential effects, including photographs, 
maps, drawings, as necessary;
    (2) A description of the steps taken to identify historic 
properties, including, as appropriate, efforts to seek information 
pursuant to Sec. 800.4(b); and
    (3) The basis for determining that no historic properties are 
present or affected.
    (e) Finding of no adverse effect or adverse effect. Documentation 
shall include:
    (1) A description of the undertaking, specifying the Federal 
involvement, and its area of potential effects, including photographs, 
maps, and drawings, as necessary;
    (2) A description of the steps taken to identify historic 
properties;
    (3) A description of the affected historic properties, including 
information on the characteristics that qualify them for the National 
Register;
    (4) A description of the undertaking's effects on historic 
properties;
    (5) An explanation of why the criteria of adverse effect were found 
applicable or inapplicable, including any conditions or future actions 
to avoid, minimize or mitigate adverse effects; and
    (6) Copies or summaries of any views provided by consulting parties 
and the public.
    (f) Memorandum of agreement. When a memorandum of agreement is filed 
with the Council, the documentation shall include, any substantive 
revisions or additions to the documentation provided the Council 
pursuant to Sec. 800.6(a)(1), an evaluation of any measures considered 
to avoid or minimize the undertaking's adverse effects and a summary of 
the views of consulting parties and the public.
    (g) Requests for comment without a memorandum of agreement. 
Documentation shall include:
    (1) A description and evaluation of any alternatives or mitigation 
measures that the agency official proposes to resolve the undertaking's 
adverse effects;
    (2) A description of any reasonable alternatives or mitigation 
measures that were considered but not chosen, and the reasons for their 
rejection;
    (3) Copies or summaries of any views submitted to the agency 
official concerning the adverse effects of the undertaking on historic 
properties and alternatives to reduce or avoid those effects; and
    (4) Any substantive revisions or additions to the documentation 
provided the Council pursuant to Sec. 800.6(a)(1).