TITLE 20, CHAPTER 71, Sec. 9007. [Also known as section 408 of the National Center for Education Statistics Act of 1994. This is the text of the NCES confidentiality protections as they existed prior to the enactment of the Patriot Act on October 27, 2001. For the full title, see http://uscode.house.gov/download/title_20.php.
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.