108TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1303
AN ACT
To amend the E-Government Act of 2002 with re-
spect to rulemaking authority of the Judicial
Conference.
108TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1303
AN ACT
To amend the E-Government Act of 2002 with respect to
rulemaking authority of the Judicial Conference.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY OF JUDICIAL CON-
FERENCE.
Section 205(c) of the E-Government Act of 2002
(Public Law 107–347; 44 U.S.C. 3501 note) is amended
by striking paragraph (3) and inserting the following:
‘‘(3) PRIVACY AND SECURITY CONCERNS.—
‘‘(A)(i) The Supreme Court shall prescribe
rules, in accordance with sections 2072 and
2075 of title 28, United States Code, to protect
privacy and security concerns relating to elec-
tronic filing of documents and the public avail-
ability under this subsection of documents filed
electronically or converted to electronic form.
‘‘(ii) Such rules shall provide to the extent
practicable for uniform treatment of privacy
and security issues throughout the Federal
courts.
‘‘(iii) Such rules shall take into consider-
ation best practices in Federal and State courts
to protect private information or otherwise
maintain necessary information security.
‘‘(iv) Except as provided in clause (v), to
the extent that such rules provide for the redac-
tion of certain categories of information in
order to protect privacy and security concerns,
such rules shall provide that a party that wish-
es to file an otherwise proper document con-
taining such protected information may file an
unredacted document under seal, which shall be
retained by the court as part of the record, and
which, at the discretion of the court and subject
to any applicable rules issued in accordance
with chapter 131 of title 28, United States
Code, shall be either in lieu of, or in addition
to, a redacted copy in the public file.
‘‘(v) Such rules may require the use of ap-
propriate redacted identifiers in lieu of pro-
tected information described in clause (iv) in
any pleading, motion, or other paper filed with
the court (except with respect to a paper that
is an exhibit or other evidentiary matter, or
with respect to a reference list described in this
subclause), 
or 
in 
any 
written 
discovery
response—
‘‘(I) by authorizing the filing under
seal, and permitting the amendment as of
right under seal, of a reference list that—
‘‘(aa) identifies each item of
unredacted protected information that
the attorney or, if there is no attor-
ney, the party, certifies is relevant to
the case; and
‘‘(bb) specifies an appropriate re-
dacted identifier that uniquely cor-
responds to each item of unredacted
protected information listed; and
‘‘(II) by providing that all references
in the case to the redacted identifiers in
such reference list shall be construed, with-
out more, to refer to the corresponding
unredacted item of protected information.
‘‘(B)(i) Subject to clause (ii), the Judicial
Conference of the United States may issue in-
terim rules, and interpretive statements relating
to the application of such rules, which conform
to the requirements of this paragraph and
which shall cease to have effect upon the effec-
tive date of the rules required under subpara-
graph (A).
‘‘(ii) Pending issuance of the rules required
under subparagraph (A), any rule or order of
any court, or of the Judicial Conference, pro-
viding for the redaction of certain categories of
information in order to protect privacy and se-
curity concerns arising from electronic filing or
electronic conversion shall comply with, and be
construed in conformity with, subparagraph
(A)(iv).
‘‘(C) Not later than 1 year after the rules
prescribed under subparagraph (A) take effect,
and every 2 years thereafter, the Judicial Con-
ference shall submit to Congress a report on
the adequacy of those rules to protect privacy
and security.’’.
Passed the House of Representatives October 7,
2003.
Attest:
Clerk.