Sec. 9007. - Confidentiality
(a) Confidentiality standards
(1) In general
(A)
The Center shall develop and enforce standards designed to protect the
confidentiality of persons in the collection, reporting, and publication of
data under
this chapter.
(B)
This section shall not be construed to protect the confidentiality of information
about institutions, organizations, and agencies that receive grants from,
or have
contracts or cooperative agreements with, the Federal Government.
(2) Prohibition
No person may -
(A)
use any individually identifiable information furnished under this chapter
for
any purpose other than a statistical purpose;
(B)
make any publication whereby the data furnished by any particular person
under this chapter can be identified; or
(C)
permit anyone other than the individuals authorized by the Commissioner
to
examine the individual reports.
(b) Administration
(1) In general
No department, bureau, agency, officer, or employee of the Federal Government,
except the Commissioner in carrying out the purposes of this chapter, shall
require, for
any reason, copies of reports that have been filed under this chapter with
the Center or
retained by any individual respondent. Copies of such reports that have been
so filed or
retained with the Center or any of the Center's employees, contractors, or
agents shall be
immune from legal process, and shall not, without the consent of the individual
concerned, be admitted as evidence or used for any purpose in any action,
suit, or other
judicial or administrative proceeding. This paragraph shall apply only to
individually
identifiable information (as defined in paragraph (5)(A)).
(2) Employee or staff violations
Whoever, being or having been an employee or staff member of the Department,
having taken or subscribed the oath of office, or having sworn to observe
the limitations
imposed by subsection (a)(2) of this section, knowingly publishes or communicates
any
individually identifiable information (as defined in paragraph (5)(A)), the
disclosure of
which is prohibited by subsection (a)(2) of this section, and that comes
into such
employee or staff's possession by reason of employment (or otherwise providing
services) under this chapter, shall be found guilty of a class E felony and
imprisoned for
not more than five years, or fined as specified in section 3571 of title
18, or both.
(3) Temporary staff
The Commissioner may utilize temporary staff, including employees of Federal,
State,
or local agencies or instrumentalities (including local educational agencies),
and
employees of private organizations to assist the Center in performing the
Center's
responsibilities, but only if such temporary staff are sworn to observe the
limitations
imposed by this section.
(4) Information requirements
No collection of information or data acquisition activity undertaken by
the Center
shall be subject to any review, coordination, or approval procedure except
as required by
the Director of the Office of Management and Budget under the rules and regulations
established pursuant to chapter 35 of title 44, except such collection of
information or data
acquisition activity may be subject to review or coordination if the Commissioner
determines that such review or coordination is beneficial.
(5) Definitions
For the purposes of this section -
(A)
the term ''individually identifiable information'' means any record, response
form,
completed survey, or aggregation thereof from which information about particular
individuals may be revealed; and
(B)
the term ''report'' means a response provided by or about an individual
to an
inquiry from the Center and does not include a statistical aggregation from
which
individually identifiable information cannot be revealed.
(6) Violations
Any person who uses any data provided by the Center, in conjunction with
any
other information or technique, to identify any individual student, teacher,
administrator,
or other individual and who knowingly discloses, publishes, or uses such
data for a
purpose other than a statistical purpose, or who otherwise violates subparagraph
(A) or
(B) of subsection (a)(2) of this section, shall be found guilty of a class
E felony and
imprisoned for not more than five years, or fined as specified in section
3571 of title 18, or
both.
(7) Access to reports or records
Nothing in this section shall restrict the right of the Secretary, the
Comptroller
General of the United States, the Director of the Congressional Budget Office,
and the
Librarian of Congress, to gain access to any reports or other records, including
information identifying individuals, in the Center's possession, except that
the same
restrictions on disclosure that apply under paragraphs (1) and (6) shall
apply to such
individuals.