Privacy Protection For Filings

Made with the Court (a) Redacted Filings. Unless the court orders otherwise, in an electronic or paper filing with the court that contains an individual’s social- security number, taxpayer- identification number, or birth date, the name of an individual known to be a minor, or a financial- account number, a party or nonparty making the filing may include only: (1) the last four digits of the social-security number taxpayer-identification number (see RCFC 9(m) when pleading a claim for a tax refund); and (2) the year of the individual’s birth; (3) the minor’s initials; and (4) the last four digits of the financial- account number. (b) Exemptions the from Redaction Requirement. The redaction requirement does not apply to the following: (1) a that identifies the property allegedly subject to forfeiture in a forfeiture proceeding; (2) the record of an administrative or agency financial-account number proceeding; (3) the official record of a state-court proceeding; (4) the record of a court or tribunal, if that record was not subject to the redaction requirement when originally filed; and (5) a filing covered by RCFC 5.2(d). (c) Limitations on Remote Access to Electronic Files; Social-Security Appeals and Immigration Cases. [Not used.] (d) Filings Made Under Seal. The court may order that a filing be made under seal without redaction. The court may later unseal the filing or order the person who made the filing to file a redacted version for the public record. (e) Protective Orders. For good cause, the court may by order in a case: (1) require redaction information; or of additional (2) limit or prohibit a nonparty’s remote electronic access to a document filed with the court. (f) Option for Additional Unredacted Filing Under Seal. A person making a redacted filing may also file an unredacted copy under seal. The court must retain the unredacted copy as part of the record. (g) Option for Filing a Reference List. A filing that contains redacted information may be filed together with a reference list that identifies each item of redacted information and specifies an appropriate identifier that uniquely corresponds to each item listed. The list must be filed under seal and may be amended as of right. Any reference in the case to a listed identifier will be construed to refer item of information. corresponding the to (h) Waiver of Protection of Identifiers. A person waives the protection of RCFC 5.2(a) as to the person’s own information by filing it without redaction and not under seal. (Added Nov. 3, 2008; as amended July 2, 2018.) Rules Committee Note 2008 Adoption New RCFC 5.2 has been added to correspond to the adoption of the same rule in the FRCP (which became effective December 1, 2007). (The redaction of personal information as addressed in RCFC 5.2 also appears in Appendix E (“Electronic Case Filing Procedure”), paragraph 26 (“Personal Information”).) 2018 Amendment RCFC 5.2(a) has been amended to reference RCFC 9(m) which includes additional pleading requirements for a tax refund claim.