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JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute 1999 91(3):211; doi:10.1093/jnci/91.3.211
© 1999 by Oxford University Press
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Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Vol. 91, No. 3, 211, February 3, 1999
© 1999 Oxford University Press

NEWS

Federal Law Requires OMB to Extend FOIA to All Federally Funded Research

Jane Daye

The Omnibus Appropriations Act, passed in the final days of the last Congress, includes a measure that could provide easy public access to the unpublished research data of federal grantees.

The measure, drafted by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), requires the Office of Management and Budget to extend the Freedom of Information Act to cover all data produced under a government-funded award.

By applying the FOIA to data held by grantees, the statute effectively overrules the 1980 U.S. Supreme Court decision that records held by a National Institutes of Health grantee were not "agency records" subject to the FOIA. Under that decision, if the NIH did not have grantee data in its files it was not required to get the data in response to a FOIA request.

In implementing the new statute, NIH, upon receiving a FOIA request for data in the hands of a grantee, will be required to get the data and disclose it to the requestor or advise the requestor that some or all of the data is exempt from disclosure under the FOIA.

This change in the law, concerned grantees believe, could compromise the confidentiality of patient information in medical studies, violate intellectual property rights, and run up massive compliance costs. OMB, which now must draft a regulation covering the change, expects that these and other concerns will be submitted by many members of the research community once it asks for public comment on its draft regulation.

The National Cancer Advisory Board, in its January meeting, created a subcommittee of members to draft a strong statement of concern. OMB plans to publish the draft soon in the Federal Register and solicit public comments. The whole process, from publication of the draft to final rulemaking, is expected to take 6 months.


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This Article
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