Part 1-Availability of Records and Information

Sec.

1.101 Public inspection of official records. 1.102 Confidential information; disclosure prohibited.

1.103 Disclosure under special circum

stances.

AUTHORITY: §§ 1.101 to 1.103 issued under sec. 215, 58 Stat. 690; 42 U. S. C. 216.

SOURCE: §§ 1.101 to 1.103 appear at 13 F. R. 7404.

§ 1.101 Public inspection of official records. (a) Official records of the Service include (1) applications, registrations, petitions, and reports filed by members of the public pursuant to statute or regulations, (2) pleadings, transcripts of testimony, exhibits and documents received in evidence in any formal proceeding, and (3) documents evidencing the official disposition of material covered by (1) and (2). Official records are made available for inspection to persons properly and directly concerned, except that upon good cause found by the Surgeon General such records may be held confidential.

(b) Requests for permission to inspect official records should be addressed to the Surgeon General, U. S. Public Health Service, Washington 25, D. C., unless otherwise directed in published organizational, procedural, or regulatory statements pertaining to specific records or classes of records. Such requests must set forth the interest of the applicant in the subject matter.

§ 1.102 Confidential information; disclosure prohibited. The following categories of information are confidential and shall not be disclosed except as indicated in this section or in § 1.103:

(a) Information relating to admission and treatment of narcotic addicts accepted as voluntary patients, not to be disclosed except upon written waiver by the patient and only to the extent specified in such waiver (sec. 344, 58 Stat. 701; 42 U. S. C. 260);

(b) Clinical and other information relating to patients committed to the care of the Service by other Government agencies, not to be disclosed except in

accordance with the policies and instructions of such other agencies;

(c) Clinical information relating to patients of the Service, to be disclosed only upon application of the patient or his duly authorized representative upon form entitled "Application for Abstract from Clinical Record": Provided, That information of minor importance and diagnosis of nonconfidential character may be supplied to employers, relatives or friends, in the discretion of the medical officer in charge of the hospital or station when determined by him to be in the interest of the patient;

(d) Clinical information regarding deceased patients, to be disclosed only to persons legally entitled to such information;

(e) Information concerning individuals or business enterprises obtained in the course of the investigatory activities of the Service in connection with interstate and foreign quarantine activities and in connection with the licensing of biological products, to be disclosed only for the purposes for which obtained or to other Federal, State, or local authorities engaged in the performance of related governmental functions and solely for such related purposes;

(f) Information relating to research projects to the extent and for such period as may be recommended in the public interest by the National Advisory Health Council, the National Advisory Cancer Council, or the National Advisory Mental Health Council;

(g) Records of vital statistics which identify individuals, not to be disclosed under any circumstances;

(h) Information relating to private individuals obtained for limited purposes in the administration of the functions of the Service, to be disclosed only for the purposes for which obtained or with the consent of the individual concerned; such information would include, for example, information obtained from applicants for research fellowships, for research grants, applicants for commissions in the Service; and so on.

(i) Information relating to training grants in mental health to the extent and for such period as may be recommended

in the public interest by the National Advisory Mental Health Council.

§ 1.103 Disclosure under special circumstances. Notwithstanding the provisions of § 1.102, the Surgeon General may authorize the disclosure of any information within any of the paragraphs of such section other than paragraphs (a) and (g), upon written application and upon determination that such disclosure would be in the public interest. Information will be furnished, subject to the general rules of evidence, upon order of a court of competent jurisdiction when a subpoena is served upon a representative of the Service competent to testify thereon. When an officer or employee of the Service is called upon to testify or produce records falling within paragraph (a) of § 1.102, in the absence of waiver

by the patient, he shall call the attention of the court to the provisions of section 344, 58 Stat. 701; 42 U. S. C. 260. When a subpoena involves a patient committed to the care of the Service by the Veterans' Administration; Bureau of Employees' Compensation, Federal Security Agency; or other Federal agency, the matter should be brought to the attention of such agency in accordance with the arrangements made for the care of such patients and the attention of the court be called to any regulations of such other agencies requiring information sought to be disclosed is confidential. Except in the interest of the Government, no officer or employee (either fulltime or part-time) of the Public Health Service shall willingly be qualified as an expert witness in the case of a litigant who has been a patient of the Service.