49 U.S.C. § 40123: Protection of voluntarily submitted information

the disclosure of the information would inhibit the voluntary provision of that type of information and that the receipt of that type of information aids in fulfilling the Administrator’s safety and security responsibilities; and withholding such information from disclosure would be consistent with the Administrator’s safety and security responsibilities. The Administrator shall issue regulations to carry out this section. Aviation Safety Action Program. Flight Operational Quality Assurance. Line Operations Safety Assessments. Air Traffic Safety Action Program. Technical Operations Safety Action Program. Such other voluntarily submitted information or programs as the Administrator determines appropriate.” In this section, the term ‘Voluntary Disclosure Reporting Program’ means the program established by the Federal Aviation Administration through Advisory Circular 00–58A, dated September 8, 2006 , including any subsequent revisions thereto. verify that air carriers are implementing comprehensive solutions to correct the underlying causes of the violations voluntarily disclosed by such air carriers; and confirm, before approving a final report of a violation, that a violation with the same root causes, has not been previously discovered by an inspector or self-disclosed by the air carrier. The Administrator shall establish a process by which voluntary self-disclosures received from air carriers are reviewed and approved by a supervisor after the initial review by an inspector. The Inspector General of the Department of Transportation shall conduct a study of the Voluntary Disclosure Reporting Program. conducts comprehensive reviews of voluntary disclosure reports before closing a voluntary disclosure report under the provisions of the program; evaluates the effectiveness of corrective actions taken by air carriers; and effectively prevents abuse of the voluntary disclosure reporting program through its secondary review of self-disclosures before they are accepted and closed by the Administration. Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act [ Feb. 14, 2012 ], the Inspector General shall submit to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate a report on the results of the study conducted under this section.”