Reading Room Document

Requiring Identifying Information for Access to Financial Disclosure Reports During the Period Governed by Section 11(a) of the STOCK Act

A procedure under which prospective viewers are required to provide basic identifying information similar to that described in section 105(b)(2) of the Ethics in Government Act in order to access financial disclosure reports made available under section 11(a) of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act is consistent with both these statutes. This procedure may be implemented by Executive Branch agencies at the direction of the Office of Government Ethics, pursuant to its authority under section 402 of the Ethics in Government Act to prescribe procedures governing the public availability of financial disclosure reports. The interim regime established by section 11(a) of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act terminates upon implementation of the permanent public disclosure system on the Office of Government Ethics website required by section 11(b). Section 11(b)(2) makes clear that viewers may not be required to provide identifying information in order to view reports made available through that system. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/olc/file/2012-08-22-id-info-stock-act/download.

August 22, 2012