Federal Register: May 20, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 97)
DOCID: FR Doc 02-12529
CHEMICAL SAFETY AND HAZARD INVESTIGATION BOARD
Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board
CFR Citation: 40 CFR Part 1603
NOTICE: RULES
DOCUMENT ACTION: Final rule.
SUBJECT CATEGORY:
Rules Implementing the Government in the Sunshine Act
DATES: This rule is effective June 19, 2002.
DOCUMENT SUMMARY:
The Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board adopts new regulations establishing the agency's procedures for implementing the Government in the Sunshine Act.
SUMMARY:
Government in the Sunshine Act; implementation,
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
The Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (``CSB'' or ``Board''), as an agency headed by a collegial body composed of five members appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, is subject to the Government in the Sunshine Act (``Sunshine Act'' or ``Act''), 5 U.S.C. 552b. The Sunshine Act establishes standards for publicizing and permitting access to agency meetings, and for closing meetings to the public under certain conditions. The Act requires agencies to promulgate regulations to implement the statute's requirements.
In the Federal Register of April 8, 2002 (67 FR 16670), the CSB published a proposed rule setting forth its regulations for the implementation of the Sunshine Act. The proposed rule provided for a 30day comment period. No comments were received in response to the proposed rule and invitation for comments. This final rule is unchanged from the proposed rule, except for the correction of a technical error in Sec. 1603.7(h).
This rule implements the requirements of the Sunshine Act. This rule mirrors the Sunshine Act regulations of many other agencies, most specifically, those of the National Transportation Safety Board (49 CFR part 804) and the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (10 CFR part 1704).
Regulatory Flexibility Act
The Board, in accordance with the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 605(b), has reviewed this rule and certifies that it will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995
This rule will not result in the expenditure by State, local, and
tribal governments, in the aggregate, or by the private sector, of
$100,000,000 or more in any one year, and it will not significantly or
uniquely affect small governments. Therefore, no actions were deemed
necessary under the provisions of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995, Public Law 1044, 109 Stat. 48.
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 1603
Sunshine Act.
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, the Chemical Safety and
Hazard Investigation Board adds a new 40 CFR part 1603 to read as follows:
PART 1603RULES IMPLEMENTING THE GOVERNMENT IN THE SUNSHINE ACT Sec.
1603.1 Applicability.
1603.2 Policy.
1603.3 Definitions.
1603.4 Open meetings requirement.
1603.5 Assurance of compliance.
1603.6 Business requiring a meeting.
1603.7 Grounds on which meetings may be closed or information may be withheld.
1603.8 Procedures for closing meetings, or withholding
information, and requests by affected persons to close a meeting. 1603.9 Procedures for public announcement of meetings.
1603.10 Changes following public announcement.
1603.11 Transcripts, recordings, or minutes of closed meetings.
1603.12 Availability of transcripts, recordings, and minutes, and applicable fees.
1603.13 Report to Congress.
1603.14 Severability.
Authority: 5 U.S.C. 552b; 42 U.S.C. 7412(r)(6)(N). Sec. 1603.1 Applicability.
(a) This part implements the provisions of the Government in the
Sunshine Act, 5 U.S.C. 552b. These procedures apply to meetings, as
defined herein, of the Members of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (``CSB'' or ``Board'').
(b) This part does not affect the procedures by which CSB records
are made available to the public, which continue to be governed by part
1601 of this chapter pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, 5
U.S.C. 552, except that the exemptions set forth in Sec. 1603.7 shall
govern in the case of any requests made for the transcripts, recordings, and minutes described in Sec. 1603.11.
Sec. 1603.2 Policy.
It is the policy of the CSB to provide the public with the fullest
practicable information regarding the decisionmaking processes of the
Board, while protecting the rights of individuals and the ability of
the Board to discharge its statutory functions and responsibilities.
The public is invited to attend but not to participate in open
meetings. For any open meeting, the Board, by majority vote, may decide
to allow for a public comment period immediately following the close of that meeting.
Sec. 1603.3 Definitions.
As used in this part:
(a) Days means calendar days, except where noted otherwise.
(b) General Counsel means the Board's principal legal officer, or a CSB attorney serving as Acting General Counsel.
(c) Meeting means the deliberations of at least a quorum of Members
where such deliberations determine or result in the joint conduct or
disposition of official CSB business, and includes conference telephone
calls or other exchanges otherwise coming within the definition. A meeting does not include:
(1) Notation voting or similar consideration of business, whether
by circulation of material to the Members individually in writing or by a polling of the Members individually by telephone.
(2) Action by at least a quorum of Members to:
(i) Open or to close a meeting or to release or to withhold information pursuant to Sec. 1603.7;
(ii) Set an agenda for a proposed meeting(s);
(iii) Call a meeting on less than seven days' notice as permitted by Sec. 1603.9(b); or
(iv) Change the subject matter or the determination to open or to close a publicly announced meeting under Sec. 1603.10(b).
(3) A session attended by at least a quorum of Members for the
purpose of having the Board's staff or expert consultants to the Board
brief or otherwise provide information to the Board concerning any matters within
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the purview of the Board under its authorizing statute, provided that
the Board does not engage in deliberations that determine or result in
the joint conduct or disposition of official CSB business on such matters.
(4) A session attended by at least a quorum of Members for the
purpose of having the Environmental Protection Agency or Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (including contractors of those
agencies) or other persons or organizations brief or otherwise provide
information to the Board concerning any matters within the purview of
the Board under its authorizing statute, provided that the Board does
not engage in deliberations that determine or result in the joint
conduct or disposition of official CSB business on such matters.
(5) A gathering of Members for the purpose of holding informal
preliminary discussions or exchange of views which do not effectively predetermine official action.
(d) Member means an individual duly appointed and confirmed to the collegial body known as the Board.
(e) Reporter means a CSB employee designated by the General
Counsel, under Sec. 1603.5(c), to attend and prepare a written summary
of all briefings described in paragraphs (c)(3) and (c)(4) of this
section and all informal preliminary discussions described in paragraph (c)(5) of this section.
(f) Sunshine Act means the Government in the Sunshine Act, 5 U.S.C. 552b.
Sec. 1603.4 Open meetings requirement.
Any meetings of the Board, as defined in Sec. 1603.3, shall be
conducted in accordance with this part. Except as provided in
Sec. 1603.7, the Board's meetings, or portions thereof, shall be open to public observation.
Sec. 1603.5 Assurance of compliance.
(a) The General Counsel or another attorney designated by the
General Counsel will attend and monitor all briefings described in
Sec. 1603.3(c)(3) and (c)(4) and all informal preliminary discussions
described in Sec. 1603.3(c)(5), to assure that those gatherings do not
proceed to the point of becoming deliberations and meetings for Sunshine Act purposes.
(b) The General Counsel or the designated attorney will inform the
Board Members if developing discussions at a briefing or gathering
should be deferred until a notice of an open or closed meeting can be
published in the Federal Register, and a meeting conducted pursuant to the Sunshine Act and this part.
(c) For each briefing described in Sec. 1603.3(c)(3) or (c)(4) and
each informal preliminary discussion described in Sec. 1603.3(c)(5),
the General Counsel is hereby authorized to designate a CSB employee,
other than the attorney referred to in paragraph (a) of this section,
to serve as a reporter. An employee may be designated as reporter for a
single briefing or informal discussion or for a series of briefings or
discussions. The reporter shall attend and prepare a written summary of
each briefing(s) or informal discussion(s) for which he/she has been
designated. The reporter must prepare the summary of a particular
briefing or informal discussion within five business days after the
date of that briefing or discussion. The reporter must then submit the
summary to the General Counsel or the designated attorney who attended
the briefing or informal discussion that is the subject of the summary
for review and approval as a fair and accurate summary of that briefing
or discussion. The written summaries of briefings and informal
discussions shall be maintained in the Office of General Counsel. Sec. 1603.6 Business requiring a meeting.
The Board may, by majority vote of its Members, determine that
particular items or classes of Board business cannot be accomplished by
notation voting, but must instead be decided by a recorded vote at a meeting, as defined in Sec. 1603.3(c).
Sec. 1603.7 Grounds on which meetings may be closed or information may be withheld.
Except in a case where the Board finds that the public interest
requires otherwise, a meeting may be closed and information pertinent
to such meeting otherwise required by Secs. 1603.8, 1603.9, and 1603.10
to be disclosed to the public may be withheld if the Board properly
determines that such meeting or portion thereof or the disclosure of such information is likely to:
(a) Disclose matters that are:
(1) Specifically authorized under criteria established by an
Executive Order to be kept secret in the interests of national defense or foreign policy; and
(2) In fact, properly classified pursuant to such Executive Order.
In making the determination that this exemption applies, the Board
shall rely upon the classification assigned to a document by the
Environmental Protection Agency, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or other originating agency;
(b) Relate solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of the CSB;
(c) Disclose matters specifically exempted from disclosure by
statute (other than 5 U.S.C. 552), provided that such statute:
(1) Requires that the matters be withheld from the public in such a manner as to leave no discretion on the issue; or
(2) Establishes particular criteria for withholding or refers to particular types of matters to be withheld;
(d) Disclose trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential;
(e) Involve accusing any person of a crime, or formally censuring any person;
(f) Disclose information of a personal nature where disclosure
would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;
(g) Disclose investigatory records compiled for law enforcement
purposes, or information which if written would be contained in such
records, but only to the extent that the production of such records or information would:
(1) Interfere with enforcement proceedings;
(2) Deprive a person of a right to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication;
(3) Constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;
(4) Disclose the identity of a confidential source and, in the case
of a record compiled by a criminal law enforcement authority in the
course of a criminal investigation or by an agency conducting a lawful
national security intelligence investigation, confidential information furnished only by the confidential source;
(5) Disclose investigative techniques and procedures; or
(6) Endanger the life or physical safety of law enforcement personnel;
(h) Disclose information the premature disclosure of which would be
likely to significantly frustrate implementation of a proposed action
of the CSB, except that this paragraph shall not apply in any instance
where the Board has already disclosed to the public the content or
nature of its proposed action or is required by law to make such
disclosure on its own initiative prior to taking final action on such proposal;
(i) Specifically concern the Board's issuance of a subpoena, or the
CSB's participation in a civil action or proceeding, an action in a
foreign court or international tribunal, or an arbitration, or the
initiation, conduct, or disposition by the CSB of a particular case of formal agency adjudication
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pursuant to the procedures in 5 U.S.C. 554 or otherwise involving a
determination on the record after opportunity for a hearing; or
(j) Disclose other information for which the Government in the
Sunshine Act provides an exemption to the open meeting requirements of that Act.
Sec. 1603.8 Procedures for closing meetings, or withholding
information, and requests by affected persons to close a meeting.
(a) A meeting shall not be closed, or information pertaining
thereto withheld, unless a majority of all Members votes to take such
action. A majority of the Board may act by taking a single vote with
respect to any action under Sec. 1603.7. A single vote is permitted
with respect to a series of meetings, a portion or portions of which
are proposed to be closed to the public, or with respect to any
information concerning such series of meetings, so long as each meeting
in such series involves the same particular subject matters and is
scheduled to be held no more than thirty days after the initial meeting
in such series. Each Member's vote under this paragraph shall be recorded and proxies are not permitted.
(b) Any person whose interest may be directly affected if a portion
of a meeting is open may request the Board to close that portion on any
of the grounds referred to in Sec. 1603.7(e) through (g). Requests,
with reasons in support thereof, should be submitted in writing, no
later than two days before the meeting in question, to the General
Counsel, Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, 2175 K Street,
NW., Suite 400, Washington, DC 20037. In motion of any Member, the
Board shall determine by recorded vote whether to grant the request.
(c) Within one working day of any vote taken pursuant to this
section, the CSB shall make available a written copy of such vote
reflecting the vote of each Member on the question and, if a portion of
a meeting is to be closed to the public, a full written explanation of
its action closing the meeting and a list of all persons expected to attend and their affiliation.
(d) Before every closed meeting, the General Counsel of the CSB
shall publicly certify that, in his/her opinion, the meeting may be
closed to the public and shall state each relevant exemption provision.
If the General Counsel invokes the exemption for classified or
sensitive unclassified information under Sec. 1603.7(a), he/shall rely
upon the classification or designation assigned to the document
containing such information by the Environmental Protection Agency,
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or other originating
agency. A copy of such certification, together with a statement setting
forth the time and place of the meeting and the persons present, shall
be retained by the Board as part of the transcript, recording, or minutes required by Sec. 1603.11.
Sec. 1603.9 Procedures for public announcement of meetings.
(a) For each meeting, the CSB shall make public announcement, at least one week before the meeting, of:
(1) The time of the meeting;
(2) The place of the meeting;
(3) The subject matter of the meeting;
(4) Whether the meeting is to be open or closed; and
(5) The name and business telephone number of the offical
designated by the CSB to respond to requests for information about the meeting.
(b) The one week advance notice required by paragraph (a) of this section may be reduced only if:
(1) A majority of all Members determines by recorded vote that CSB
business requires that such meeting be scheduled in less than seven days; and
(2) The public announcement required by paragraph (a) of this section is made at the earliest practicable time.
(c) Immediately following each public announcement required by this
section, or by Sec. 1603.10, the CSB shall submit a notice of public announcement for publication in the Federal Register.
Sec. 1603.10 Changes following public announcement.
(a) The time or place of a meeting may be changed following the
public announcement only if the CSB publicly announces such change at
the earliest practicable time. Members need not approve such change.
(b) A meeting may be cancelled, or the subject matter of a meeting
or the determination of the Board to open or to close a meeting, or a
portion thereof, to the public may be changed following public announcement only if:
(1) A majority of all Members determines by recorded vote that CSB
business so requires and that no earlier announcement of the cancellation or change was possible; and
(2) The CSB publicly announces such cancellation or change and the
vote of each Member thereon at the earliest practicable time.
(c) The deletion of any subject matter announced for a meeting is
not a change requiring the approval of the Board under paragraph (b) of this section.
Sec. 1603.11 Transcripts, recordings, or minutes of closed meetings.
(a) Along with the General Counsel's certification referred to in
Sec. 1603.8(d), the CSB shall maintain a complete transcript or
electronic recording adequate to record fully the proceedings of each
meeting, or a portion thereof, closed to the public. The CSB may
maintain a set of minutes in lieu of such transcript or recording for
meetings closed pursuant to Sec. 1603.7(i). Such minutes shall fully
and clearly describe all matters discussed and shall provide a full and
accurate summary of any actions taken, and the reasons therefor,
including a description of each of the views expressed on any item and
the record of any rollcall vote. All documents considered in connection with any actions shall be identified in such minutes.
(b) The CSB shall maintain a complete verbatim copy of the
transcript, a complete copy of the minutes, or a complete electronic
recording of each meeting, or a portion thereof, closed to the public
for at least two years after such meeting, or until one year after the
conclusion of any CSB proceeding with respect to which the meeting, or a portion thereof, was held, whichever occurs later.
Sec. 1603.12 Availability of transcripts, recordings, and minutes, and applicable fees.
The CSB shall make promptly available to the public the transcript, electronic recording, or minutes of the discussion of any item on the agenda or of any testimony received at a meeting, except for such item, or items, of discussion or testimony as determined by the CSB to contain matters which may be withheld under the exemptive provisions of Sec. 1603.7. Copies of the nonexempt portions of the transcript or minutes, or transcription of such recordings disclosing the identity of each speaker, shall be furnished to any person at the actual cost of transcription or duplication. Requests for transcripts, recordings, or minutes shall be made in writing to the General Counsel of the CSB, 2175 K Street, NW., Suite 400, Washington, DC 20037.
Sec. 1603.13 Report to Congress.
The CSB General Counsel shall annually report to the Congress
regarding the Board's compliance with the Government in the Sunshine
Act, including a tabulation of the total number of open meetings, the
total number of closed meetings, the reasons for closing such meetings
and a description of any litigation brought against the Board pursuant to the
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Government in the Sunshine Act, including any cost assessed against the
Board in such litigation (whether or not paid by the Board). Sec. 1603.14 Severability.
If any provision of this part or the application of such provision
to any person or circumstances, is held invalid, the remainder of this
part or the application of such provision to persons or circumstances
other than those as to which it is held invalid, shall not be affected thereby.
Dated: May 14, 2002.
Christopher W. Warner,
General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 0212529 Filed 51702; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 635001P
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
Christopher Kirkpatrick, (202) 2617600.