This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains regulatory documents having general

applicability and legal effect, most of which

are keyed to and codified in the Code of

Federal Regulations, which is published under

50 titles pursuant to 44 U.S.C. 1510.

The Code of Federal Regulations is sold by

the Superintendent of Documents. Prices of

new books are listed in the first FEDERAL

REGISTER issue of each week.

Rules and Regulations Federal Register

12549 

Vol. 76, No. 45 

Tuesday, March 8, 2011 

GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY 

OFFICE 

4 CFR Part 81 

Public Availability of Government 

Accountability Office Records 

AGENCY: Government Accountability 

Office. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: This rule is a revision of 

portions of GAO’s records rule. These 

revisions clarify procedures to obtain 

Government Accountability Office 

(GAO) documents. Published GAO 

documents such as testimonies, reports, 

and decisions are available to the public 

on GAO’s Web site and also may be 

requested over the telephone. Their 

wide availability eliminates the need for 

regulations governing their request, and 

accordingly published GAO documents 

are no longer subject to the procedures 

of this part. The revisions also clarify 

that records compiled for law 

enforcement purposes by another 

agency and records provided by GAO to 

another agency for law enforcement 

purposes are not subject to disclosure. 

The previous regulatory language on 

this point was imprecise. The changes 

also add steps to the procedures for 

using GAO’s public reading facility, to 

facilitate the efficient use of the facility. 

Finally, the revisions make various 

housekeeping changes reflecting shifts 

in GAO’s operating procedures. 

These changes clarify for the public 

which GAO documents are subject to 

this part and how to obtain such 

documents. 

DATES: Effective March 8, 2011. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John 

A. Bielec, Assistant General Counsel, 

202–512–2846. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Part 81 of 

Title 4 of the Code of Federal 

Regulations contains the procedures for 

members of the public to obtain GAO 

documents. 

GAO is amending paragraph (b) of 

§ 81.1 to remove all published GAO 

documents, such as reports and 

decisions, from this part’s purview. All 

such documents are publicly available 

on GAO’s Web site, http://www.gao.gov, 

and may also be ordered over the 

telephone. Accordingly, regulations 

governing requests for public disclosure 

of such documents are unnecessary. It is 

also well established that when an 

agency makes its documents widely 

available to the public, the agency need 

not reproduce those documents again in 

response to a Freedom of Information 

Act (FOIA) request. Department of 

Justice v. Tax Analysts, 492 U.S. 136, 

152 (1989). While GAO is not subject to 

FOIA, the principle applies equally in 

this context. 

Published GAO documents may be 

downloaded free of charge from GAO’s 

Web site. Print copies may be ordered 

by telephone, but GAO charges a fee to 

print and ship documents requested this 

way, as provided in § 81.7, which is 

unchanged by this rule. Under this 

revised rule, GAO will no longer accept 

requests via fax or mail for published 

documents. Requests for GAO 

documents not available on GAO’s Web 

site remain subject to this part and must 

be submitted in writing to GAO, via 

either mail or e-mail, in accordance 

with § 81.4. Technical amendments to 

paragraphs (a) and (c) of § 81.1 are made 

as needed to conform with these 

changes. 

Paragraph 81.6(g) is amended to 

clarify the types of documents GAO 

considers to be compiled for law 

enforcement purposes. Such documents 

are not subject to disclosure under this 

part. 

Although GAO is not a law 

enforcement agency, it occasionally 

collects, during the course of its audits 

and investigations, records from law 

enforcement agencies that those 

agencies compiled for their own law 

enforcement purposes. While GAO did 

not compile the records, they are 

nonetheless exempt from disclosure 

because they were originally compiled 

for law enforcement purposes and may 

still be used for such purposes by the 

originating agency. Disclosure of such 

records would undermine the 

originating agency’s law enforcement 

mission. 

During the course of its work, GAO 

also occasionally receives information 

from non-law enforcement sources that 

indicates possible civil or criminal 

wrongdoing by another party. GAO 

forwards such information to other 

Federal, State, or local agencies with 

enforcement jurisdiction over the 

matter. The receiving agencies may use 

the information for their own 

investigations, prosecutions, or other 

law enforcement matters. GAO 

considers such information to be 

compiled for law enforcement purposes 

if, at the time GAO receives a request 

under this part for the information, the 

receiving agency advises GAO that the 

information is being, or will be, used by 

that agency for a law enforcement 

purpose. In these circumstances, GAO’s 

disclosure of the information could 

undermine law enforcement operations. 

‘‘Law enforcement’’ in this context 

includes civil and administrative as 

well as criminal matters. 

This policy is consistent with the 

United States Supreme Court’s ruling 

that information not originally compiled 

for law enforcement purposes is 

nevertheless exempt from public 

disclosure if, at the time of a request, it 

is being used for law enforcement 

purposes. John Doe Agency v. John Doe 

Corp., 493 U.S. 146, 153–55 (1989). 

Section 81.8 is amended to advise 

individuals who wish to use GAO’s 

public reading facility to schedule an 

appointment and to have GAO’s staff 

determine whether the records sought 

are included in the public reading 

facility collection. 

Section 81.2 is amended to clarify and 

identify the entity within GAO that 

administers this part. Section 81.4 is 

amended to delete language that GAO 

records may be requested via a link on 

GAO’s Web site. GAO will continue to 

accept requests for GAO records by email. Paragraph (m) of § 81.6 is 

amended to correctly identify the entity 

within GAO that operates GAO 

FraudNet. 

GAO submitted for comment a 

proposed rule containing these 

amendments, which was published in 

the Federal Register on November 24, 

2010 (75 FR 71567). GAO received no 

comments on the proposed rule. 

GAO is not subject to the 

Administrative Procedure Act. 


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12550 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 45 / Tuesday, March 8, 2011 / Rules and Regulations 

List of Subjects in 4 CFR Part 81 

Administrative practice and 

procedure, Archives and records, 

Computer technology, Electronic 

products, Freedom of information, 

Public reading room, Requests for 

records. 

For the reasons stated in the 

preamble, the Government 

Accountability Office amends 4 CFR 

part 81 as follows: 

PART 81—PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF 

GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY 

OFFICE RECORDS 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 81 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 31 U.S.C. 711. 

■ 2. Amend § 81.1 to revise the first 

sentence of paragraph (a), to revise 

paragraph (b), and to add paragraph (c) 

to read as follows: 

§ 81.1 Purpose and scope of part. 

(a) This part implements the policy of 

the U.S. Government Accountability 

Office (GAO) with respect to the public 

availability of GAO records, except as 

set forth in paragraph (b) of this section. 

* * * 

(b) GAO published testimonies, 

reports, decisions, special publications, 

or listings of publications are not 

included within the scope of this part. 

These documents may be obtained from 

the GAO Web site, http://www.gao.gov, 

or by telephone at 202–512–6000, TDD 

202–512–2537, or 1–866–801–7077 (toll 

free). These publications may be 

downloaded free of charge from the 

GAO Web site. Paper copies requested 

from GAO are subject to a printing, 

shipping, and handling fee. 

(c) Requests for all other GAO records 

are within the scope of this part and 

should be submitted to GAO as directed 

in paragraph (a) of § 81.4. 

■ 3. Revise § 81.2 to read as follows: 

§ 81.2 Administration. 

GAO’s Chief Quality Officer 

administers this part and may 

promulgate such supplemental rules or 

regulations as may be necessary. 

■ 4. In § 81.4, remove the second 

sentence of paragraph (a). 

■ 5. Amend § 81.6 to revise paragraph 

(g) and the sentence following the italic 

heading in paragraph (m) to read as 

follows: 

§ 81.6 Records which may be exempt from 

disclosure. 

* * * * * 

(g) Records compiled for law 

enforcement purposes that originate in 

another agency, or records provided by 

GAO to another agency for law 

enforcement purposes. 

* * * * * 

(m) * * * Records obtained by the 

GAO Forensic Audits and Special 

Investigations (GAO FraudNet) are an 

example of records that could contain 

information covered by this exemption. 

■ 6. Amend § 81.8 to add a new second 

sentence, and to revise the last sentence 

as follows: 

§ 81.8 Public reading facility. 

* * * To determine if a record is part 

of the public reading facility collection 

and to schedule an appointment to visit 

the facility, contact the Library reference 

desk at 202–512–2585. The facility is 

open to the public from 8:30 a.m. to 

4 p.m. except Saturdays, Sundays, and 

Federal holidays. 

Lynn H. Gibson, 

General Counsel, U.S. Government 

Accountability Office. 

[FR Doc. 2011–4988 Filed 3–7–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 1610–02–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Parts 21, 25, 121, and 129 

[Docket No. FAA–2011–0186; Amendment 

Nos. 21–94, 25–133, 121–354, and 129–50; 

SFAR 111] 

RIN 2120–AJ92 

Lavatory Oxygen Systems 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), DOT. 

ACTION: Interim final rule; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: This action temporarily 

authorizes variances from existing 

standards related to the provisioning of 

supplemental oxygen inside lavatories. 

This action is necessitated by other 

mandatory actions that temporarily 

render such oxygen systems inoperative. 

DATES: This interim rule is effective 

March 8, 2011 and remains in effect 

until further notice. Submit comments 

on or before May 9, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments identified 

by docket number FAA–2011–0186 

using any of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and follow 

the online instructions for sending your 

comments electronically. 

• Mail: Send comments to Docket 

Operations, M–30; U.S. Department of 

Transportation (DOT), 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue, SE., Room W12–140, West 

Building Ground Floor, Washington, DC 

20590–0001. 

• Hand Delivery or Courier: Take 

comments to Docket Operations in 

Room W12–140 of the West Building 

Ground Floor at 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue, SE., Washington, DC between 

9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through 

Friday, except Federal holidays. 

• Fax: Fax comments to Docket 

Operations at 202–493–2251. 

Privacy: The FAA will post all 

comments it receives, without change, 

to http://www.regulations.gov, including 

any personal information the 

commenter provides. Using the search 

function of the docket Web site, anyone 

can find and read the electronic form of 

all comments received into any FAA 

dockets, including the name of the 

individual sending the comment (or 

signing the comment for an association, 

business, labor union, etc.). DOT’s 

complete Privacy Act Statement can be 

found in the Federal Register published 

on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477–19478), 

as well as at http://DocketsInfo.dot.gov. 

Docket: Background documents or 

comments received may be read at 

http://www.regulations.gov at any time. 

Follow the online instructions for 

accessing the docket or go to Docket 

Operations in Room W12–140 of the 

West Building Ground Floor at 1200 

New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, 

DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday 

through Friday, except Federal holidays. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeff 

Gardlin, Airframe and Cabin Safety 

Branch, ANM–115, Transport Airplane 

Directorate, Aircraft Certification 

Service, Federal Aviation 

Administration, Northwest Mountain 

Region, 1601 Lind Avenue, SW., 

Renton, WA 98057–3356; telephone: 

(425) 227–2136; e-mail: 

jeff.gardlin@faa.gov. 

For legal questions concerning this 

action, contact Douglas Anderson, 

Federal Aviation Administration, Office 

of the Regional Counsel, ANM–7, 

Northwest Mountain Region, 1601 Lind 

Avenue, SW., Renton, WA 98057–3356; 

telephone: (425) 227–2166; e-mail: 

douglas.anderson@faa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Good Cause 

The FAA finds that notice and public 

comment to this interim rule are 

impracticable. This rule, together with 

Airworthiness Directive 2011–04–09, 

addresses an emergency situation 

relating to a security vulnerability in 

transport category airplanes. These rules 

both mandate action necessary to 

address this vulnerability and provide 

interim relief from other regulatory 


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