Privacy Act; Implementation

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS or Department) is issuing this final rule to make effective the exemptions that were previously proposed for a new Privacy Act system of records, "NIH Police Records," maintained by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), from certain requirements of the Act. The new system of records covers criminal and non-criminal law enforcement investigatory material maintained by the NIH Division of Police, a component of NIH which performs criminal law enforcement as its principal function. The exemptions are necessary and appropriate to protect the integrity of law enforcement proceedings and records compiled during the course of NIH Division of Police activities, prevent disclosure of investigative techniques, and protect the identity of confidential sources involved in those activities.