IEC Journal

DOJ Green Lights Electronic Records Concept

A Department of Justice OLC opinion that approves the general concept of electronic records may provide a boost to efforts to convert ethics filing to electronic processes. DOJ's summary of the opinion follows:

Federal official personnel and civil service retirement records that have been converted from paper to electronic format should be admissible in evidence in federal court under the Business Records Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1732, and should also qualify as "public records" admissible under Rule 1005 of the Federal Rules of Evidence.

Electronic versions of particular personnel records which, pursuant to statute or regulation, must be notarized, certified, signed, or witnessed, may be authenticated under Rules 901 and 902 of the Federal Rules of Evidence. Converting such documents to electronic format should not affect their admissibility under hearsay rules.

While this opinion does not alleviate all concerns about legal issues in electronic filing, it should relieve some fears about moving forward.

IEC eFiling Working Group

The IEC eFiling working group meeting scheduled for this afternoon is moved to April 23 at the OGE Conference Room from 1:30 - 3:30. A call in number will be provided for those preferring to call in to participate. The topics include:

• Handling of eFiling at National OGE Conference in Sept.
• Resume discussion of the eFiling Roadmap with view towards presenting it or portions at the Conf.
• Other topics to be determined.

Contact group chair George Hancock for more information:

703.696.5512 (Desk Monday & Thursday)
703.915.0022 (BlackBerry)

Electronic Filing Working Group

OGE's DAEOgram DO-07-014 provided a greenlight for federal agency implementation of electronic filing of public and confidential financial disclosure reports, along with guidelines for such projects. Favorable feedback from the May 17 IEC meeting discussing eFiling FDRs and DAEOgram DO-07-014 has prompted IEC explore establishing a Work Group/Steering Committee to collaborate on eFiling Financial Disclosure Reports (FDRs). If you are interested in participating/contributing to this effort contact George Hancock via e-mail:

geo-hancock -- AT -- us -- DOT -- army -- DOT -- mil

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