49 U.S.C. § 44735: Limitation on disclosure of safety information

if the report, data, or other information is submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration voluntarily and is not required to be submitted to the Administrator under any other provision of law; if the report, data, or other information is submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration pursuant to section 102(e) of the Aircraft Certification, Safety, and Accountability Act; or if the report, data, or other information is submitted for any purpose relating to the development and implementation of a safety management system, including a system required by regulation. Reports, data, or other information developed under the Aviation Safety Action Program. Reports, data, or other information produced or collected under the Flight Operational Quality Assurance Program. Reports, data, or other information developed under the Line Operations Safety Audit Program. Reports, data, or other information produced or collected for purposes of developing and implementing a safety management system acceptable to the Administrator. Reports, analyses, and directed studies, based in whole or in part on reports, data, or other information described in paragraphs (1) through (4), including those prepared under the Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing Program (or any successor program). The limitation established by subsection (a) shall not apply to a report, data, or other information if the information contained in the report, data, or other information has been de-identified. In this subsection, the term “de-identified” means the process by which all information that is likely to establish the identity of the specific persons or entities submitting reports, data, or other information is removed from the reports, data, or other information. The limitation established under subsection (a) shall apply to the head of any other Federal agency who receives reports, data, or other information described in such subsection from the Administrator. This section shall not be construed to limit the accident or incident investigation authority of the National Transportation Safety Board under chapter 11, including the requirement to not disclose voluntarily provided safety-related information under section 1114.