?  Data requests may be submitted to any member of the Data Request Committee (DRC) or to any Officer or Director of the ISS. Requests not made to a member of the DRC shall be forwarded to a member of the DRC.

?  The member of the DRC first receiving the data request shall first determine if the data request involves sensitive data (information that could easily lead to the location of a cave entrance) or if it comes from an entity that has a relevant Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the ISS. If the request does not involve sensitive data, then the request should be immediately granted. The DRC member making the determination of non-sensitive data shall notify a Data Custodian to release the requested data. No confidentiality agreement is required, although the ISS would like acknowledgement in reports or presentations incorporating data provided.

?  If the request comes from an entity with an MOU that addresses data access, the terms of the MOU take precedence over these procedures. Data requests made under the terms of an MOU shall be reported to the President along with all other data requests.

?  The DRC may wish to determine whether the data requested is held by the ISS. Requests for data not held by the ISS do not require deliberation. If it becomes known that the ISS does not hold all the requested data, then the requestor shall be notified as soon as possible.

?  If the data is deemed sensitive, then all material supporting the request shall be distributed to the rest of the DRC. The request shall not be granted by the DRC without unanimous approval by the DRC. If any member of the DRC believes that it is inappropriate for DRC to make a determination (absent members, conflict of interest, or a request for substantial quantities of data), then the request shall be referred to the Board of Directors for consideration.

?  If the DRC approves the request, but it includes data restricted by the data donor, the request and supporting materials shall be forwarded to the restricting person(s) for their consideration along with notification of the DRC's unanimous support of the request.

?  If the person restricting the data approves the request, the restrictor shall notify the DRC and the Data Custodian and sign the confidentiality agreement. The confidentiality agreement language must be satisfactory to any person releasing restricted data.

?  If any member of the DRC disapproves of the data request, then the Chair of the DRC or his designee shall notify the requestor and inform the requestor that the decision may be appealed to the Board of Directors. If an appeal is desired, the DRC Chair will notify the President and forward the supporting material. The President will then place the request on the next meeting agenda.

?  A simple majority is required to approve a data request brought before the Board of Directors. The results of the vote shall be recorded in the minutes. If passed, the President will notify the Data Custodian to release the data with an appropriate confidentiality agreement to be signed by the President. The DRC does not need to sign confidentiality agreements for data releases approved by the Board of Directors.

?  If a DRC member is requesting sensitive data, then that member should abstain from voting on the request. If two or more DRC members are involved with the data request, then the request shall be referred to the Board of Directors.

?  The DRC shall appoint one of its members as Chair. The Chair shall report on the activity of the DRC to the President each month. The report will include a record of who voted how and a description of materials provided by and requested from the data requestor. These records will be made available to ISS members and anyone making a data request.

?  The DRC Chair or his designee shall draft a Confidentiality Agreement that is appropriate for each approved data request. The DRC Chair shall obtain each DRC member's signature on each confidentiality agreement for sensitive data released. The signatures document their approval of the request.

?  If a data request involves both sensitive and non-sensitive data, the DRC will indicate only the sensitive data on the confidentiality agreement. The non-sensitive data may be released prior to a decision on sensitive data.

?  If the DRC or the Board of Directors approves a grant request for data not held by the ISS, the approval is moot. If and when the data is submitted to the ISS, the requestor must make a new request.

Return to ISS main page

As of October 2005, this page is maintained by Jack Wood. Please email the webmaster with web page comments and corrections. All other correspondence should be addressed to the ISS via the president.
Page created on 28 June 2006.