The FAA today published a Notice of Order regarding its issuance of Order 8000.89 on August 17, 2006. The Order states that the FAA will not release safety and security information that is volunteered to it from regulated entities through the Voluntary Disclosure Reporting Program (VDRP) in accordance with Advisory Circular (AC) 00-58 . Under the the VDRP, the FAA foregoes civil penalty actions when a regulated entity (e.g. Part 135, Part 121 and other certificate holder) detects regulatory violations, promptly discloses the violations to the FAA, and takes prompt corrective action to ensure that the same or similar violations do not recur.
According to the FAA, “disclosure of VDRP information would inhibit the voluntary provision of that type of information because regulated entities have stated they are reluctant to voluntarily disclose instances of regulatory noncompliance if such submissions might be subject to public disclosure.” Regulated entities are obviously concerned regarding potential public disclosure of the information, and, if disclosed, the potential for it to be used for other than the system safety enhancement purposes for which the VDRP was created.
The Order is effective as of August 17, 2006. For more information, you should review both Order 8000.89 and AC 00-58.
