
[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 29 (Friday, February 11, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7893-7894]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-3101]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Aviation Administration


FAA Policy Statement on Expungement of Certain Enforcement 
Actions

AGENCY: Federal Aviation Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Policy statement.

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SUMMARY: The FAA has temporarily suspended its policy of expunging 
certain records of legal enforcement actions against individuals in 
order to ensure compliance with recent amendments to the Pilot Records 
Improvement Act.

[[Page 7894]]


DATES: This policy became effective November 1, 2010.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: A frequently asked questions (FAQ) page about 
the suspension of the expunction policy and its effects on pilots is 
available at: http://www.faa.gov/pilots/lic_cert/pria/guidance/pilotfaq. Further questions may be directed to 9-AGC-ExpunctionSuspension@faa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background: In 1991, the FAA adopted a 
policy of expunging records of certain closed legal enforcement actions 
against individuals, see 56 FR 55,788 (Oct. 29, 1991). This includes 
both airman certificate holders and non-holders, such as passengers. 
Among other things, the policy provides that, in general, records of 
legal enforcement actions involving suspension of an airman certificate 
or a civil penalty against an individual are maintained for five years, 
then expunged. Cases closed with no enforcement action are expunged 
within ninety days. In addition, the FAA has a policy of expunging 
records of administrative actions after two years that was in existence 
at the time of and was left unchanged by the adoption of the 1991 
expunction policy.
    On August 1, 2010, the Airline Safety and Federal Aviation 
Administration Extension Act of 2010, Public Law 111-216, 124 Stat. 
2348 (2010) (``Act''), was signed into law. The Act amends the Pilot 
Records Improvement Act (``PRIA'') by requiring the FAA to create a 
pilot records database. Air carriers will use this database to perform 
background checks on pilots before hiring them, as required by PRIA. 
The database will contain various types of records, including summaries 
of legal enforcement actions against individuals resulting in a finding 
by the FAA Administrator of a violation. These records must be kept by 
the FAA until it receives notice that the individual is deceased. The 
requirement to keep these records began on the date of the law's 
enactment, August 1, 2010.
    The five-year expunction of certain legal enforcement action 
records is not consistent with the Act's amendments to PRIA. Although 
the requirement to maintain the records began on August 1, 2010, the 
FAA last expunged on November 1, 2010, as we began determining which 
records must be kept in order to comply with the law. The November 1, 
2010 expunction covered records from scheduled for expunction during 
October. We will continue to expunge records of administrative actions 
and cases with no enforcement action, as PRIA does not require the FAA 
to put this information in the pilot record database. The FAA will 
determine the full effect of the Act's requirements on the expunction 
policy and will amend its expunction policy accordingly. The details of 
the amended expunction policy will be published in the Federal 
Register.

    Issued in Washington, DC on February 4, 2011.
J. Randolph Babbitt,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2011-3101 Filed 2-10-11; 8:45 am]
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