Submission of Confidential Business Information During COVID-19 Social Distancing

To facilitate social distancing due to COVID-19, NHTSA is treating electronic submission as an acceptable method for submitting confidential business information (CBI) to the agency under 49 C.F.R. Part 512. Since Part 512 submissions are handled by NHTSA’s Office of Chief Counsel, the submitter’s point of contact (for example, the assigned Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) investigator) will provide a name and contact information for an Office of Chief Counsel attorney to whom the electronic Part 512 submission should be directed. Specifically, any CBI submissions sent via email should be sent to an attorney in the Office of Chief Counsel. Likewise, for CBI submissions via a secure file transfer application, an attorney in the Office of Chief Counsel must be set to receive a notification when files are submitted and have access to retrieve the submitted files. At this time, regulated entities should not send a duplicate hardcopy of their electronic CBI submissions to DOT headquarters. 

Please note that these modified submission procedures are only to facilitate continued operations while maintaining appropriate social distancing due to COVID-19. Regular procedures for Part 512 submissions will resume upon further notice, when NHTSA and regulated entities discontinue operating primarily in telework status. 

For questions about CBI issues, including these modified submission procedures, please contact Dan Rabinovitz in the Office of Chief Counsel at Daniel.Rabinovitz@dot.gov or 202-366-8534.

Please note that this information is intended to provide clarity to the public regarding existing requirements; it does not have the force and effect of law and is not meant to bind the public in any way.