Chapter 4701-2 | Accessing Confidential Personal Information

Rule 4701-2-01 | Definitions.

• Effective: September 1, 2020
• Promulgated Under: 119.03

(A) "Access" as a noun means an instance of copying, viewing, or otherwise perceiving whereas "access" as a verb means to copy, view, or otherwise perceive.

(B) "Acquisition of a new computer system" means the purchase of a "computer system," as defined in this rule, which is not a computer system currently in place nor one for which the acquisition process has been initiated as of the effective date of the board rule addressing requirements in section 1347.15 of the Revised Code.

(C) "Computer system" means a "system," as defined by section 1347.01 of the Revised Code, that stores, maintains, or retrieves personal information using electronic data processing equipment.

(D) "Confidential personal information" has the meaning as defined by division (A)(1) of section 1347.15 of the Revised Code and is identified by rules promulgated by the board in accordance with division (B)(3) of section 1347.15 of the Revised Code that reference the federal or state statutes or administrative rules which make personal information maintained by the board confidential.

(E) "Employee of the board" means each employee of the accountancy board as well as each member of the accountancy board appointed to the board pursuant to section 4701.02 of the Revised Code.

(F) "Incidental contact" means contact with information that is secondary or tangential to the primary purpose of the activity that resulted in the contact.

(G) "Individual" means a natural person or the natural person's authorized representative, legal counsel, legal custodian, or legal guardian.

(H) "Information owner" means the individual appointed in accordance with division (A) of section 1347.05 of the Revised Code to be directly responsible for a system.

(I) "Maintains" means board ownership of, control over, responsibility for, or accountability for systems and includes, but is not limited to, board information contained within a data processing center for storage, management, or dissemination. The board "maintains" all systems of records required by law to be kept by the agency.

(J) "Person" means a natural person.

(K) "Personal information" means any information that describes anything about a person, indicates actions done by or to a person, or indicates a person possesses certain personal characteristics, and contains and can be retrieved from a system by a name, identifying number, symbol, or other identifier assigned to a person.

(L) "Personal information system" means a "system" that "maintains" "personal information" as those terms are defined in this rule.

(M) "Public record" has the meaning as defined by division (A)(1) of section 149.43 of the Revised Code.

(N) "Research" means a methodical investigation into a subject.

(O) "Routine" means commonplace, regular, habitual, or ordinary.

(P) "Routine information maintained for the purpose of internal office administration, the use of which would not adversely affect a person" means personal information relating to the board's employees that is maintained by the board for administrative and human resources purposes.

(Q) "System" means any collection or group of related records kept in an organized manner and maintained by the board, and from which personal information is retrieved by the name of the person or by some identifying number, symbol, or other identifier assigned to the person. "System" includes both records manually stored and records stored using computers. "System" does not include collected archival records in the custody of or administered under the authority if the Ohio historical society, published directories, reference materials or newsletters, or routine information maintained for the purpose of internal office administration, the use of which would not adversely affect a person.

(R) "Upgrade" means a substantial redesign of an existing system for the purpose of providing a substantial amount of new application functionality, or application modifications that would involve substantial administrative or fiscal resources to implement, but would not include maintenance, minor updates and patches, or modifications that entail a limited addition of functionality due to changes in business or legal requirements.

Supplemental Information

Authorized By: 1347.15
Amplifies: 1347.15
Five Year Review Date: 9/1/2025

Rule 4701-2-02 | Personal information systems.

• Effective: September 1, 2020
• Promulgated Under: 119.03

(A) The executive director of the board shall be responsible for any personal information system maintained by the board.

(B) The board shall discipline any employee who initiates or otherwise contributes to any disciplinary or other punitive action taken against another individual who brings to the attention of appropriate authorities, the press, or a member of the public, any evidence of unauthorized use of any material contained in a board maintained personal information system.

(C) The board shall maintain its personal information system with the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, and completeness necessary to assure fairness in any determination made by the board based on information contained in the system.

(D) The board shall investigate, upon request, the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, and completeness of any personal information disputed by the subject of a record contained in its personal information system and report its findings to the disputant within thirty days after receipt of the request.

(E) The board shall not place personal information into an interconnected or combined system unless said system contributes to the efficiency of other agencies or organizations authorized by law to use the system.

(F) The board shall not use any personal information placed into an interconnected or combined system by another state or local agency or an organization unless the personal information is necessary and relevant to the performance of a lawful function of the board.

Supplemental Information

Authorized By: 1347.05
Amplifies: 1347.05
Five Year Review Date: 9/1/2025
Prior Effective Dates: 7/16/2009

Rule 4701-2-03 | Confidential personal information.

• Effective: September 1, 2020
• Promulgated Under: 119.03

(A) The following personal information maintained by the board shall be confidential:

(1) Social security numbers unless the individual is informed of the disclosure.

(2) "Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation" and "Federal Bureau of Investigation" criminal records check results in accordance with section 4776.04 of the Revised Code.

(3) Investigative proceedings of the board under section 4701.29 of the Revised Code.

(B) All other personal information maintained by the board may be considered a public record pursuant to section 149.43 of the Revised Code.

Supplemental Information

Authorized By: 1347.15
Amplifies: 1347.15
Five Year Review Date: 9/1/2025
Prior Effective Dates: 8/22/2010

Rule 4701-2-04 | Accessing confidential personal information.

• Effective: September 1, 2020
• Promulgated Under: 119.03

(A) Personal information systems of the board are managed on a "need to know" basis whereby the information owner determines the level of access required for an employee of the board to fulfill their job duties. The determination of access to confidential personal information contained in a personal information system. The board shall establish procedures for determining a revision to an employee's access to confidential personal information upon a change to the employee's job duties including, but not limited to transfer or termination. Whenever an employee's job duties no longer require access to confidential personal information in a personal information system, the employee's access to confidential personal information shall be removed.

(B) Upon the signed written request of any individual for a list of confidential personal information about the individual maintained by the board, the board shall do all of the following:

(1) Verify the identity of the individual by a method that provides safeguards commensurate with the risk associated with the confidential personal information;

(2) Provide to the individual the list of confidential personal information that does not relate to an investigation of an individual pursuant to section 149.43 of the Revised Code or is otherwise not excluded from the scope of Chapter 1347. of the Revised Code; and

(3) If all information relates to an investigation about an individual pursuant to section 149.43 of the Revised Code, inform the individual the board has no confidential personal information about the individual responsive to the request.

(C) Upon discovery or notification that confidential personal information of a person has been accessed by an employee for an invalid reason, the board shall notify the person whose information was invalidly accessed as soon as practical and to the extent known at the time. However, the board shall delay notification for a period necessary to ensure the notification would neither delay or impede an investigation of the circumstances and involvement of an employee surrounding the invalid access, nor jeopardize homeland or national security. Additionally, the board may delay notification consistent with any measures necessary to determine the scope of the invalid access, including which individuals' confidential personal information invalidly was accessed, and to restore the reasonable integrity of the system. Once the board determines notification would not delay or impede an investigation, the board shall disclose the invalid access to the person. Notification provided by the board shall inform the person of the type of confidential personal information accessed and the date(s) of the invalid access, and may be made by any method reasonably designed to accurately inform the person of the invalid access, including written, electronic, or telephone notice.

(D) The executive director shall designate an employee of the board to serve as the data privacy point of contact. The data privacy point of contact shall work with the chief privacy officer within the office of information technology to assist the board with both the implementation of privacy protections for the confidential personal information the board maintains, and compliance with section 1347.15 of the Revised Code and the rules adopted pursuant to the authority provided by that chapter. The data privacy point of contact shall timely complete the privacy impact assessment form developed by the office of information technology.

Supplemental Information

Authorized By: 1347.15
Amplifies: 1347.15
Five Year Review Date: 9/1/2025

Rule 4701-2-05 | Valid reasons for accessing confidential personal information.

• Effective: September 1, 2020
• Promulgated Under: 119.03

(A) Pursuant to the requirements of division (B)(2) of section 1347.15 of the Revised Code, this rule contains a list of valid reasons directly related to the board's exercise of its powers or duties by which authorized employees of the board may access confidential personal information.

(B) Any of the following functions normally performed by the board constitute valid reasons for authorized employees of the board to access confidential personal information:

(1) Responding to a public records request;

(2) Responding to a request from an individual for the list of confidential personal information the board maintains for the individual;

(3) Administering either a provision of the United States constitution or a provision of the Ohio constitution that is directly applicable to the operations of the board;

(4) Administering a provision of Chapter 4701. of the Revised Code;

(5) Administering a provision of agency 4701 of the Administrative Code;

(6) Complying with any state or federal program requirements;

(7) Processing or payment of claims;

(8) Auditing purposes;

(9) Licensure processes, including determination of eligibility and filing requirements for the CPA examination, CPA certificate, firm registration, Ohio permit, and Ohio registration;

(10) Investigation or law enforcement purposes;

(11) Administrative hearings;

(12) Litigation, complying with an order of the court, or subpoena;

(13) Human resource matters, including but not limited to hiring, promotion, demotion, discharge, salary or compensation issues, leave requests or issues, and time card approvals or issues;

(14) Complying with an executive order;

(15) Complying with an official board policy or a state administrative policy issued by the department of administrative services, the office of budget and management or other similar state agency; or

(16) Complying with a collective bargaining agreement provision.

(C) In addition to the general processes described in paragraph (A) of this rule, in the following specific processes of the board, authorized board employees would have valid reasons for accessing confidential personal information:

(1) Investigators, attorneys, and staff may review confidential personal information of individuals who are subject to investigation for alleged misconduct which may result in discipline against a certified public accountant, public accountant, or public accounting firm. These same employees may review confidential personal information of individuals who are not the subject of the investigation, but may be witnesses with information related to the investigation. Confidential personal information may also be reviewed by these employees and members of the board in professional conduct matters which become the subject of administrative hearings.

(2) Board employees may review confidential personal information of students who apply for education assistance fund scholarships for the purpose of carrying out the statutory provisions of the program.

(3) Board employees may review confidential personal information of persons who are selected for the board's continuing education verification program.

Supplemental Information

Authorized By: 1347.15
Amplifies: 1347.15
Five Year Review Date: 9/1/2025

Rule 4701-2-06 | Restricting and logging access to confidential personal information in computerized personal information systems.

• Effective: September 1, 2020
• Promulgated Under: 119.03

(A) Access to confidential personal information that is kept electronically shall require a password or other authentication measure.

(B) When the board acquires a system that stores, manages or contains confidential personal information, the board shall include a mechanism for recording specific access by employees of the board to confidential personal information in the system.

(C) When the board modifies an existing system which stores, manages or contains confidential personal information, the board shall determine whether the modification constitutes an upgrade. Any upgrades to a system shall include a mechanism for recording specific access by employees of the board to confidential personal information in the system.

(D) The board shall require employees of the board who access confidential personal information within personal information systems to maintain a log that records that access. Access to confidential information is not required to be entered into the log under the following circumstances:

(1) The employee of the board is accessing confidential personal information for official board purposes, including research, and the access is not specifically directed toward a specifically named individual or a group of specifically named individuals.

(2) The employee of the board is accessing confidential personal information for routine office procedures and the access is not specifically directed toward a specifically named individual or a group of specifically named individuals.

(3) The employee of the board comes into incidental contact with confidential personal information and the access of the information is not specifically directed toward a specifically named individual or a group of specifically named individuals.

(4) The employee of the board accesses confidential personal information about an individual based upon a request made under either of the following circumstances:

(a) The individual requests confidential personal information about himself or herself.

(b) The individual requests the board take some action on the individual's behalf and accessing the confidential personal information is required in order to consider or process the request.

(5) For purposes of this paragraph, the board may choose the form or forms of logging, whether in electronic or paper formats.

(E) The board shall issue a log management policy that specifies the following:

(1) Who shall maintain the log;

(2) What information shall be captured in the log;

(3) How the log is to be stored; and

(4) How long information kept in the log is to be retained.

Supplemental Information

Authorized By: 1347.15
Amplifies: 1347.15
Five Year Review Date: 9/1/2025
Prior Effective Dates: 8/22/2010