Section 3502 · Definitions

(1) the term “agency” means any executive department, military department, Government corporation, Government controlled corporation, or other establishment in the executive branch of the Government (including the Executive Office of the President), or any independent regulatory agency, but does not include the General Accounting Office, Federal Election Commission, the governments of the District of Columbia and of the territories and possessions of the United States, and their various subdivisions, or Government-owned contractor-operated facilities including laboratories engaged in national defense research and production activities;

(2) the terms “automatic data processing,” “automatic data processing equipment,” and “telecommunications” do not include any data processing or telecommunications system or equipment, the function, operation or use of which—

(3) the term “burden” means the time, effort, or financial resources expended by persons to provide information to a Federal agency;

(4) the term “collection of information” means the obtaining or soliciting of facts or opinions by an agency through the use of written report forms, application forms, schedules, questionnaires, reporting or recordkeeping requirements, or other similar methods calling for either—

(5) the term “data element” means a distinct piece of information such as a name, term, number, abbreviation, or symbol;

(6) the term “data element dictionary” means a system containing standard and uniform definitions and cross references for commonly used data elements;

(7) the term “data profile” means a synopsis of the questions contained in an information collection request and the official name of the request, the location of information obtained or to be obtained through the request, a description of any compilations, analyses, or reports derived or to be derived from such information, any record retention requirements associated with the request, the agency responsible for the request, the statute authorizing the request, and any other information necessary to identify, obtain, or use the data contained in such information;

(8) the term “Director” means the Director of the Office of Management and Budget;

(9) the term “directory of information resources” means a catalog of information collection requests, containing a data profile for each request;

(10) the term “independent regulatory agency” means the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the the 1 Federal Housing Finance Board, the Federal Maritime Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Mine Enforcement Safety and Health Review Commission, the National Labor Relations Board, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, the Postal Rate Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and any other similar agency designated by statute as a Federal independent regulatory agency or commission;

(11) the term “information collection request” means a written report form, application form, schedule, questionnaire, reporting or recordkeeping requirement, collection of information requirement, or other similar method calling for the collection of information;

(12) the term “information referral service” means the function that assists officials and persons in obtaining access to the Federal Information Locator System;

(13) the term “information resources management” means the planning, budgeting, organizing, directing, training, promoting, controlling, and management activities associated with the burden, collection, creation, use, and dissemination of information by agencies, and includes the management of information and related resources such as automatic data processing equipment (as such term is defined in section 111(a) of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (40 U.S.C. 759(a));

(14) the term “information systems” means management information systems;

(15) the term “person” means an individual, partnership, association, corporation, business trust, or legal representative, an organized group of individuals, a State, territorial, or local government or branch thereof, or a political subdivision of a State, territory, or local government or a branch of a political subdivision;

(16) the term “practical utility” means the ability of an agency to use information it collects, particularly the capability to process such information in a timely and useful fashion; and

(17) the term “recordkeeping requirement” means requirement imposed by an agency on persons to maintain specified records.