§40119 — Title 49 Transportation | U.S. Code

Summary

The Secretary of Transportation must make rules that stop sharing information collected or made to protect transportation when sharing would cause an unnecessary invasion of someone’s privacy, expose trade secrets or private business or financial facts, or hurt transportation safety. Those rules cannot be used to keep information from a congressional committee that is allowed to see it. The rules also cannot be used to hide illegal acts, cover up mistakes, avoid embarrassment, block competition, or delay release of information that does not need protection, such as basic science not clearly tied to transportation security. The FAA Administrator may share FAA records with federal law enforcement, intelligence, protective service, immigration, or national security officials to help them do their jobs, and a certain privacy rule (section 552a of title 5) does not apply to those disclosures. Unless another law says so, the duties and powers in this rule cannot be moved to a different federal department or agency.

Title 49, §40119

Transportation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)(1)Notwithstanding the establishment of a Department of Homeland Security, the Secretary of Transportation, in accordance with section 552(b)(3)(B) of title 5, shall prescribe regulations prohibiting disclosure of information obtained or developed in ensuring security under this title if the Secretary of Transportation decides disclosing the information would—

(A)be an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;

(B)reveal a trade secret or privileged or confidential commercial or financial information; or

(C)be detrimental to transportation safety.

(2)Paragraph (1) shall not be construed to authorize information to be withheld from a committee of Congress authorized to have such information.

(3)Nothing in paragraph (1) shall be construed to authorize the designation of information as sensitive security information (as such term is defined in section 15.5 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations) to—

(A)conceal a violation of law, inefficiency, or administrative error;

(B)prevent embarrassment to a person, organization, or agency;

(C)restrain competition; or

(D)prevent or delay the release of information that does not require protection in the interest of transportation security, including basic scientific research information not clearly related to transportation security.

(4)Section 552a of title 5 shall not apply to disclosures that the Administrator may make from the systems of records of the Federal Aviation Administration to any Federal law enforcement, intelligence, protective service, immigration, or national security official in order to assist the official receiving the information in the performance of official duties.

(b)Except as otherwise provided by law, a duty or power under this section may not be transferred to another department, agency, or instrumentality of the Federal Government.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

A prior section 40119, Pub. L. 103–272, § 1(e), July 5, 1994, 108 Stat. 1117; Pub. L. 107–71, title I, § 101(e), Nov. 19, 2001, 115 Stat. 603; Pub. L. 107–296, title XVI, § 1601(a), Nov. 25, 2002, 116 Stat. 2312; Pub. L. 111–83, title V, § 561(c)(2), Oct. 28, 2009, 123 Stat. 2182; Pub. L. 112–95, title VIII, § 801, Feb. 14, 2012, 126 Stat. 118, related to research and development activities to protect passengers and property against acts of criminal violence, aircraft piracy, and terrorism and to ensure security and

Regulations

prohibiting disclosure of information obtained or developed in ensuring security under this title, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 115–254, div. K, title I, § 1991(c)(3), Oct. 5, 2018, 132 Stat. 3627.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Pub. L. 118–63, title II, § 223(b), May 16, 2024, 138 Stat. 1061, provided that: “The

Amendments

made by this section [enacting this section] shall be effective as of October 5, 2018, and all authority restored to the Secretary [of Transportation] and the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] under this section shall be treated as if such authority had never been repealed by the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–254) [see

Prior Provisions

note above].”

§40119 Sensitive security information

Summary

Title 49, §40119

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

Regulations

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Amendments

Prior Provisions

Citations & Metadata