26712 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 105 / Wednesday, June 3, 2009 / Notices 

1Presidential Documents, Memorandum for the 

Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies on 

Transparency and Open Government (January 21, 

2009) (74 FR 4685, January 26, 2009), available at 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/; Presidential 

Documents, Memorandum for the Heads of 

Executive Departments and Agencies on Freedom of 

Information Act (January 21, 2009) (74 FR 4683, 

January 26, 2009), available at http://www.gpo.gov/ 

fdsys/pkg/FR–2009–01–26/pdf/E9–1773.pdf. 

2Office of the Attorney General, Memorandum 

for the Heads of Executive Departments and 

Agencies on The Freedom of Information Act 

(March 19, 2009), available at http:// 

www.usdoj.gov/ag/foia-memo-march2009.pdf. 

Treatment Research; 93.396, Cancer Biology 

Research; 93.397, Cancer Centers Support; 

93.398, Cancer Research Manpower; 93.399, 

Cancer Control; 93.701, ARRA Related 

Biomedical Research and Research Support 

Awards, National Institutes of Health, HHS) 

Dated: May 21, 2009. 

Jennifer Spaeth, 

Director, Office of Federal Advisory 

Committee Policy. 

[FR Doc. E9–12881 Filed 6–2–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4140–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Food and Drug Administration 

[Docket No. FDA–2009–N–0247] 

Food and Drug Administration 

Transparency Task Force; Public 

Meeting 

AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, 

HHS. 

ACTION: Notice of public meeting; 

request for comments. 

SUMMARY: The Food and Drug 

Administration (FDA) is announcing a 

public meeting to solicit 

recommendations from interested 

persons on ways in which FDA can 

make useful and understandable 

information about FDA activities and 

decisionmaking more readily available 

to the public. 

Dates and Times: The public meeting 

will be held on June 24, 2009, from 8 

a.m. to 5 p.m. Persons interested in 

attending the meeting must register by 

June 17, 2009. Submit written or 

electronic comments by August 7, 2009. 

Location: The public meeting will be 

held at the National Transportation 

Safety Board (NTSB) Conference Center, 

429 L’Enfant Plaza, SW., Washington, 

DC 20594. 

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments 

to the Division of Dockets Management 

(HFA–305), Food and Drug 

Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, rm. 

1061, Rockville, MD 20852. Submit 

electronic comments to http:// 

www.regulations.gov. All comments 

should be identified with the docket 

number found in brackets in the 

heading of this document. Submit 

electronic registration via e-mail to 

Transparency.Meeting@fda.hhs.gov by 

close of business on June 17, 2009. 

Transcripts of the meeting will be 

available for review at the Division of 

Dockets Management and on the 

Internet at http://www.regulations.gov 

approximately 30 days after the 

meeting. 

For Registration to Attend and/or to 

Participate in the Meeting: If you wish 

to attend public meeting and/or make an 

oral presentation at the meeting, you 

must register by e-mail (see ADDRESSES) 

by close of business on June 17, 2009. 

When registering, you must provide the 

following information: (1) Your name, 

title, company or organization (if 

applicable), address, phone number, 

and e-mail address and (2) if you wish 

to make a presentation, the specific 

topic or issue to be addressed and the 

approximate desired length of your 

presentation. There is no fee to register 

for the public meeting and registration 

will be on a first-come, first-served 

basis. Early registration is recommended 

because seating is limited. Registration 

on the day of the public meeting will be 

permitted on a space-available basis 

beginning at 7:30 a.m. 

We will do our best to accommodate 

all persons who wish to make a 

presentation at the meeting. FDA 

encourages persons and groups having 

similar interests to consolidate their 

information for presentation through a 

single representative. After reviewing 

the requests to present, we will contact 

each participant prior to the meeting 

with the amount of time available and 

the approximate time the participant’s 

presentation is scheduled to begin. 

Presenters must then send the final 

electronic copies of their presentations 

in Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft 

Word, or Adobe Portable Document 

Format (PDF) to 

Transparency.Meeting@fda.hhs.gov by 

June 22, 2009. 

If you need special accommodations 

due to a disability, please inform the 

contact person (see FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT) by June 17, 2009. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Afia 

Asamoah, Office of the Commissioner, 

Food and Drug Administration, 10903 

New Hampshire Ave., rm. 2208, Silver 

Spring, MD 20993, 301–796–4625, FAX: 

301–847–3531, e-mail: 

Afia.Asamoah@fda.hhs.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

Transparency promotes accountability 

and provides information to the public 

about government activities and 

initiatives. For FDA, providing 

information to the public in a timely, 

user-friendly manner is important to 

enhance the work of the agency. 

Government transparency and 

accountability is a priority for the 

Obama Administration. On January 21, 

2009, President Obama issued two 

memoranda to the heads of executive 

departments and agencies regarding 

openness in government.1 In the 

memorandum on Transparency and 

Open Government (‘‘Transparency and 

Open Government memorandum’’), the 

Administration has pledged to take 

appropriate action, consistent with law 

and policy, to disclose information to 

the public rapidly, and in a form that is 

easily accessible and user friendly. 

Executive departments and agencies 

have been charged with harnessing new 

technologies to make information about 

agency operations and decisions 

available online and readily available to 

the public. Further, executive 

departments and agencies have been 

instructed to solicit public input to 

identify information of greatest use to 

the public. 

In the Transparency and Open 

Government memorandum, President 

Obama directed the Chief Technology 

Officer, in coordination with the 

Director of the Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB) and the 

Administrator of General Services, to 

coordinate the development of 

recommendations for an Open 

Government Directive. This Directive, to 

be issued by the Director of the OMB, 

is to instruct executive departments and 

agencies to take specific actions 

implementing the principles set forth in 

this memorandum. 

In the memorandum on the Freedom 

of Information Act (FOIA) (‘‘FOIA 

memorandum’’), the Administration 

noted that principles embodied in the 

FOIA express our Nation’s commitment 

to an open government. Executive 

agencies were instructed to adopt a 

presumption in favor of disclosure with 

respect to all decisions involving the 

FOIA. The Attorney General was 

directed to issue new guidelines 

governing the FOIA to the heads of 

executive departments and agencies. On 

March 19, 2009, the Attorney General 

issued guidelines for implementing the 

FOIA in a memorandum for heads of 

executive departments and agencies.2

Regarding the presumption of openness, 

the Attorney General strongly 

encouraged agencies to make 

discretionary disclosures, but also noted 


PWALKER on PROD1PC71 with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 105 / Wednesday, June 3, 2009 / Notices 26713 

that the FOIA’s disclosure obligation is 

not absolute and provides exemptions to 

protect, for example, national security, 

personal privacy, privileged records, 

and law enforcement interests. 

In response to both Presidential 

memoranda, FDA has formed an 

internal Transparency Task Force to 

develop recommendations for making 

useful and understandable information 

about FDA activities and 

decisionmaking more readily available 

to the public in a timely manner and in 

a user-friendly format, in a manner 

compatible with the agency’s goal of 

protecting confidential information, as 

appropriate. As a part of this process, 

the Task Force is holding two public 

meetings and establishing a public 

docket to seek public input on these 

issues. The first public meeting to solicit 

input from interested stakeholders on 

improving agency transparency, the 

subject of this meeting notice, will be 

held on June 24, 2009. The Task Force 

is exploring additional ways to seek 

input through the Internet, and is 

planning to hold a second public 

meeting in the fall of 2009. A meeting 

announcement describing the scope of 

the second meeting will be published in 

the Federal Register. 

II. Scope of Meeting 

FDA is interested in receiving 

comments from the public on issues 

related to transparency. The comments 

should focus on ways in which the 

agency should provide information to 

the public about what FDA is doing, the 

bases for the agency’s decisions, and the 

processes used to make agency 

decisions. In addition to general 

suggestions about the ways the agency 

can inform the public, we are 

specifically interested in soliciting input 

on the following questions: 

1. How can the agency better explain its 

operations, activities, processes, and 

decisionmaking? 

2. What specific information should 

FDA provide about agency operations, 

activities, processes, and 

decisionmaking, including: 

a. Enforcement actions? 

b. Product approvals? 

c. Recalls? 

d. Other actions? 

3. What tools, techniques, processes, or 

other mechanisms should FDA use to be 

more effective in providing useful and 

understandable information? 

a. Internet tools? 

b. Tools to improve targeting and 

effectiveness of communications, 

including risk communication? 

c. Improvements to the Freedom of 

Information Act processes? 

d. Other? 

4. What, if any, legislative or regulatory 

changes are needed to improve FDA’s 

ability to provide useful and 

understandable information to the 

public? 

5. As FDA becomes more transparent, 

what information should remain 

confidential in order to promote key 

internal and external policy goals, such 

as preserving patient privacy, and how, 

in these cases, should FDA explain the 

importance of confidentiality? 

6. What metrics should FDA use to 

gauge the effectiveness of its 

transparency efforts? 

III. Request for Comments 

Regardless of attendance at the public 

meeting, interested persons may submit 

written or electronic comments (see 

ADDRESSES). Submit a single copy of 

electronic comments or two paper 

copies of any mailed comments, except 

that individuals may submit one paper 

copy. To permit time for interested 

persons to submit data, information, or 

views on this subject, submit comments 

by August 7, 2009. Where relevant, you 

should annotate and organize your 

comments to identify the specific 

question addressed by the question 

number referenced in the previous text. 

Please identify comments with the 

docket number assigned to this notice, 

which is found at the heading of this 

document. Received comments may be 

seen in the Division of Dockets 

Management (see ADDRESSES) between 9 

a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through 

Friday. FDA is also exploring additional 

electronic means for the public to 

provide comments and feedback on this 

topic. 

IV. Transcripts 

Transcripts of the meeting will be 

available for review approximately 30 

days after the meeting at http:// 

www.regulations.gov and at the Division 

of Dockets Management (see 

ADDRESSES). 

Dated: May 29, 2009. 

Jeffrey Shuren, 

Associate Commissioner for Policy and 

Planning. 

[FR Doc. E9–12902 Filed 6–2–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4160–01–S 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention 

National Center for Environmental 

Health/Agency for Toxic Substances 

and Disease Registry (NCEH/ATSDR); 

Notice of National Conversation on 

Public Health and Chemical Exposures 

Kick-Off Meeting 

Time and Date: 8:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m., 

Friday, June 26, 2009. 

Location: Ronald Reagan Building and 

International Trade Center, 1300 

Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., 

Washington, DC 20004. 

Status: Open to the public, limited 

only by the space available. The meeting 

room accommodates approximately 600 

people. 

Purpose: This meeting will launch the 

National Conversation on Public Health 

and Chemical Exposures, a collaborative 

initiative to identify and prioritize 

actions for revitalizing the nation’s 

public health approach to chemical 

exposures. 

Meeting Agenda: The meeting will 

include a plenary session featuring Dr. 

Howard Frumkin, Director of NCEH/ 

ATSDR as well as other guests. The 

plenary will provide an overview of this 

stakeholder and public involvement 

initiative. Breakout sessions will 

provide participants with opportunities 

to discuss specific issues related to 

public health and chemical exposures. 

National Conversation Project: The 18 

month long National Conversation will 

offer many opportunities for 

involvement, including: Expert working 

groups, regional and local face-to-face 

public meetings, and Web-based 

discussions. The resulting action agenda 

will outline steps for NCEH/ATSDR and 

other institutions to take to better 

protect public health from harmful 

chemical exposures. NCEH/ATSDR is 

sponsoring this project. 

Contact for Additional Information: If 

you would like to receive additional 

information on this meeting and 

initiative, please send your contact 

information to: 

nationalconversation@cdc.gov. 

Dated: May 26, 2009. 

James R. Seligman, 

Chief Information Officer, Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention. 

[FR Doc. E9–12900 Filed 6–2–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 


PWALKER on PROD1PC71 with NOTICES