[Federal Register: June 27, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 124)]
[Notices]               
[Page 43318-43320]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr27jn02-83]                         

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FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM

[Docket No. R-1124]

 
Privacy Act of 1974; Notice of Amendment of System of Records

AGENCY: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

ACTION: Notice; amendment of one system of records.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act, the Board of Governors of 
the Federal Reserve System (Board) is publishing notice of the 
amendment of one system of records, entitled SCF-Survey of Consumer 
Finances (BGFRS-20). We invite public comment on this amended system of 
records.

[[Page 43319]]


DATES: Comments must be received on or before July 29, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Comments, which should refer to Docket No. R-1124, may be 
mailed to Ms. Jennifer J. Johnson, Secretary, Board of Governors of the 
Federal Reserve System, 20th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW., 
Washington, DC 20551 or mailed electronically to 
regs.comments@federalreserve.gov. Comments addressed to Ms. Johnson 
also may be delivered to the Board's mail room between 8:45 a.m. and 
5:15 p.m. weekdays and to the security control room outside of those 
hours. The mail room and the security control room are accessible from 
the Eccles Building courtyard entrance, located on 20th Street between 
Constitution Avenue and C Street, NW. Comments may be inspected in Room 
MP-500 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays pursuant to Sec. 261.12, 
except as provided in Sec. 261.14, of the Board's Rules Regarding 
Availability of Information, 12 CFR 261.12 and 261.14.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Arthur Kennickell, Project Director, 
Division of Research and Statistics (202/452-2247); or Elaine M. 
Boutilier, Managing Senior Counsel, Legal Division (202/452-2418), 
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 20th Street and 
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20551. For users of the 
Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) only, contact 202/263-
4869.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Board is amending its system of records 
for the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), to reflect the change in the 
independent contractor used to conduct the survey and to update the 
description of the records maintained in the system. This system of 
records contains statistical information regarding a periodic (every 
three years) survey that the Board has sponsored since 1983 to obtain 
information on the current state of U.S. households' finances. 
Approximately 5000 households voluntarily agree to respond to a survey 
questionnaire, which is administered through a detailed interview, 
conducted either in person or by telephone at the convenience of the 
participant. The names and addresses of each participant are 
confidential, and extraordinary steps are taken to uncouple the 
identities of the participants from the information they provide. The 
data collected provide a representative picture of what Americans own--
from houses and cars to stocks and bonds--how and how much they borrow 
and how they bank.
    In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552a(r), a report of this amended 
system of records is being filed with the Chair of the House Committee 
on Government Reform and Oversight, the Chair of the Senate Committee 
on Governmental Affairs, and the Office of Management and Budget. This 
new system of records will become effective on August 1, 2002, without 
further notice, unless the Board publishes a notice to the contrary in 
the Federal Register.
BGFRS-20

System name:
    SCF--Survey of Consumer Finances.

Security classification:
    None.

System location(s):
    (1) National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago 
(NORC), 155 East 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637.
    (2) Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 20th & C 
Streets, NW, Washington, DC 20551.

Categories of individuals covered by the system:
    Every three years beginning in 1983, the Board of Governors of the 
Federal Reserve System (Board) has sponsored a survey of U.S. 
households to obtain information on the current state of households' 
finances. For each instance of the survey, a national sample of 
approximately 10,000 households is selected using two statistical 
sampling procedures. Approximately 5,000 households voluntarily agree 
to participate in a detailed interview, which is conducted either in 
person or by telephone at the convenience of the participant.

Categories of records in the system:
    (1) NORC, the independent contractor for survey data collection, 
holds three types of files:
    (a) Answers given by survey participants in the course of the 
administration of the survey questionnaire. No identifying information 
is included in this category.
    (b) Answers given by interviewers to questions about the 
administration, or attempted administration, of the survey interview, 
and answers given by interviewers to questions about the area around 
the sample addresses. No identifying information is included in this 
category.
    (c) A control file containing the name, address, other identifying 
or locating characteristics of members of the survey sample, and 
technical information describing survey participation.
    (2) The Board holds five types of files:
    (a) All information included in (1)(a) and (1)(b).
    (b) A control file containing general geographic characteristics 
and technical information describing survey participation. No 
identifying information is included in this category.
    (c) For a part of the survey sample, information from statistical 
records derived from individual tax returns, including a social 
security number but containing no other identifying information.
    (d) Files of information matched to the survey data by high-level 
characteristics, such as general location, occupation, banking market, 
etc. No identifying information is included in this category.

Authority for maintenance of the system:
    12 U.S.C. 225a and 15 U.S.C. 1601 note.

Purpose(s):
    The data in the system described as (1)(a) under ``Categories of 
records in the system'' provide a basis for the statistical analysis of 
consumer financial status and behavior. All other information in the 
system is used for the statistical purposes of structuring, conducting, 
and processing the survey.
    Data in the system from (1)(a) and (1)(b) and unidentified data 
from (1)(c) are used by staff at the Board to address policy and other 
statistical research questions in economics and topics of technical 
survey methodology. A version of the data described as (1)(a) under 
``Categories of records in the system'' is further processed 
statistically to minimize the possibility of identification of survey 
participants based on characteristics or combinations of 
characteristics in the data; that altered information is made available 
to the public. The public version of the data forms a key part of the 
national statistical system and provides a basis for a wide variety of 
government, academic, and other statistical research.
    The system is maintained for statistical purposes only and is not 
used in whole or in part in making any determination about benefits or 
other rights of any identifiable individual. It consist solely of 
``statistical records'' as defined in the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 
552(a)(6)).

Routine uses of records maintained in the system, including categories 
of users and the purpose of such uses:
    a. Prior to the completion of data collection, the survey 
contractor uses information in the system to devise and attempt to 
execute a plan to request an interview with all members of the survey 
sample; access to such information is available only to those

[[Page 43320]]

involved in the sample design and its implementation in the field.
    b. Upon completion of data collection, access by the contractor to 
the system is limited to the specific information necessary to complete 
the initial processing of the data and to respond to requests from 
survey participants.
    c. At the Board, access to data from the system is available only 
to staff members who have the primary responsibility for conducting and 
processing the survey. Access by those individuals is allowed for the 
following purposes: structuring, conducting, and preparing the survey 
data and performing statistical analysis of the data. A particularly 
important routine activity of these responsible individuals is a close 
review of the individual records described as (1)(a) under ``Categories 
of records in the system'' for preparation of a public version of the 
data that has been subjected to statistical procedures to minimize the 
possibility that any participant might be identified by a 
characteristic or set of characteristics in the data.
    d. Disclosure may be made to a congressional office from the record 
of an individual in response to an inquiry from the congressional 
office on behalf of that individual.

Disclosure to consumer reporting agencies:
    Not applicable.

Policies and practices for storing, retrieving, accessing, retaining, 
and disposing of records in the system:
Storage:
    Magnetic disks, CD-ROMs, magnetic tape.

Retrievability:
    The contractor stores data described at (1)(a) and (1)(b) under 
``Categories of records in the system'' in an electronic form 
separately from identifying information described in (1)(c). A set of 
identification numbers generated for administrative purposes may be 
used to link these files, but access to linked information is 
restricted to purposes necessary for the collection and preliminary 
processing of the survey data. The responsible staff at the Board 
maintain files described at (2)(c) separately from other files. A set 
of identification numbers may be used to link the information described 
at (2)(c) with the other information, and access to such information is 
restricted to those among the responsible staff with particular needs 
in structuring, conducting, preparing, and analyzing the survey data.

Safeguards:
    During periods of data collection, the survey contractor limits 
access to identifying information only to staff directly engaged in 
data collection, managing the survey, and processing the data; access 
varies according to what is needed to perform each task; identifying 
information is maintained in files separate from other data. After the 
completion of data collection, personnel at the facilities of the 
contractor are allowed to have access to information that would 
identify members of the survey sample only for specific purposes 
authorized by their project director, and that are connected with 
attempts to validate whether the correct person was interviewed, to 
address other narrow statistical issues, or to respond to requests from 
sample members for information. All electronic files are held in secure 
computer systems, and paper files are held in locked cabinets.
    At the Board, all potentially identifiable files are maintained in 
secure computer systems, locked files, or locked cabinets, and access 
to those files is restricted to staff directly responsible for the 
production of the survey.

Retention and disposal:
    All files containing identifying information held by NORC are 
destroyed within three years of the completion of work on a given 
execution of the SCF; all backup records used to maintain the integrity 
of such files are also destroyed. All files maintained by the Board 
will be maintained until such time as the survey may be discontinued, 
at which time all files containing identifying information will be 
destroyed except as otherwise required by law governing preservation of 
archival records. A version of the SCF, statistically altered to 
protect the identity of the survey participants, is placed in the 
public domain.

Systems manager(s) and address:
    Arthur Kennickell, Project Director, Survey of Consumer Finances, 
Monetary and Financial Studies Section, Division of Research and 
Statistics, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 
Washington, DC 20551.

Notification procedure:
    An individual requesting notice as to whether this system contains 
information pertaining to him or her should write to the government 
project director, at the address shown below, enclosing a notarized 
statement of his or her full name and current address. Simultaneously, 
with requesting notification of inclusion in the system of records, the 
individual may request record access as described in the following 
section ``Record access procedures.''
    Arthur Kennickell, Project Director, Survey of Consumer Finances, 
Monetary and Financial Studies Section, Division of Research and 
Statistics, Room M-1412, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 
System, Washington, DC 20551.

Record access procedures:
    Individuals who, through the notification procedures set out above, 
have established that the system of records contains information 
pertaining to them may request access to those records by writing to 
the government project director at the address given above. The 
government project director will notify the individual as to the place 
and time for access to the record(s). If the requester prefers, and if 
the information requested is not too voluminous, the material may be 
mailed.

Contesting record procedures:
    Individuals who seek to contest records in this system should 
contact the government project director at the address given above, 
reasonably identify the record(s), specify the information being 
contested and the rationale for the challenge, and supply the 
information to be substituted.

Record source categories:
    Answers to survey questions are obtained from participants. Other 
information about the steps taken to obtain an interview, the progress 
of the interview, and the general characteristics of the neighborhood 
of the sample address, is obtained from the survey interviewers. 
Technical sample design information for a geographically based part of 
the survey sample is obtained from NORC; for sample members in the 
other part of the sample, statistical records derived from individual 
tax returns are obtained from the Statistics of Income Division of the 
Internal Revenue Service.

System exempted from certain provisions of the act:
    None.

    By order of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve 
System, acting through the Secretary of the Board under delegated 
authority, June 20, 2002.
Jennifer J. Johnson,
Secretary of the Board.
[FR Doc. 02-16192 Filed 6-26-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6210-01-P