Department of Justice November 9, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice solicits public comment on three documents created by subcommittees of the Interagency ADR Working Group Steering Committee (``Steering Committee''), a group of federal subject matter experts. The first document, ``Protecting the Confidentiality of Dispute Resolution Proceedings: A Guide for Federal Workplace ADR Program Administrators'' (``Confidentiality Guide''), provides practical guidance to program administrators on the application of the confidentiality provisions of the Administrative Dispute Resolution Act of 1996 (``the ADR Act'' 5 U.S.C. 574) to federal workplace dispute resolution programs. The other two documents (``Supplementation and Annotation documents''), consist of: (1) ``A Guide for Federal Employee Mediators,'' a supplementation and annotation of the 2005 Model Standards of Conduct for Mediators issued by the American Arbitration Association (``AAA''), American Bar Association (``ABA''), and the Association for Conflict Resolution (``ACR''), for use by federal employee mediators; and (2) ``A Guide for Federal Employee Ombuds,'' a supplementation and annotation of the Standards for the Establishment and Operations of Ombuds Offices issued on February 9, 2004 by the ABA, prepared by the Steering Committee in conjunction with the Coalition for Federal Ombudsmen (``CFO'') for use by federal employee ombuds. Complete versions of each of the three documents can be found at http:/ /www.adr.gov/draftguides.html or may be requested in hard copy from Hon. Richard C. Walters at 202-273-6747. The Steering Committee invites all interested individuals or organizations to submit comments on these documents for its consideration before they are posted in final form.