Policy:

1. A link, called FOIA, to information made available under the Freedom of Information Act.  The FOIA link can be either to the Department's FOIA web site or to the Operating Unit's FOIA website.
2. A link to the Web site Privacy Policy (as required by the Web policy on Privacy Policy Statements and Information Collection);
3. A link to http://www.USA.gov;
4. A link, called Information Quality, to the Department's or the Operating Unit's (as appropriate) Information Quality Guidelines;
5. A link, called either "About Us" or "About [Your Operating Unit or Line Office]," or "About DOC," to a page with links to the following :

1. summary statistical data about equal employment opportunity complaints filed with the agency and written notification of "Whistleblower" rights and protections, as required by the No FEAR Act of 2002. This can be done either through a link to the Department of Commerce No FEAR Act web page or through a link to an Operating Unit No FEAR Act page;
2. the Department's strategic plan and annual performance plans;
3. descriptions of the Department's organizational structure, mission and statutory authority
4. the agency point of contact for small businesses as required by the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002, at the Commerce and the Small Business Paperwork Reduction Act Web page; and any specific cross-government portals or links required by law or policy for your Operating Unit.  

Scope:

The following list defines the DOC "major Web sites":

Department of Commerce: http://www.doc.gov/
Bureau of the Census: http://www.census.gov/
National Institute of Standards and Technology: http://www.nist.gov/
Bureau of Economic Analysis: http://www.bea.doc.gov/
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: http://www.noaa.gov/
Bureau of Industry and Security: http://www.bis.doc.gov/
National Telecommunications and Information Administration: http://www.ntia.doc.gov/
Economic Development Administration: http://www.doc.gov/eda/
National Technical Information Service: http://www.ntis.gov/
Economics and Statistics Administration: http://www.esa.doc.gov/
Office of the Inspector General: http://www.oig.doc.gov/
Office of the General Council: http://www.ogc.doc.gov/
International Trade Administration: http://www.trade.gov
Patent and Trademark Office: http://www.uspto.gov/
Minority Business Development Administration: http://www.mbda.gov/
NOAA National Weather Service home page: http://www.weather.gov
NOAA National Ocean Service: http://www.nos.noaa.gov/
NOAA Environmental Satellite and Data Information Service: http://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/
NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations: http://www.omao.noaa.gov/
NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/
NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research: http://www.oar.noaa.gov/

Purpose:

Exceptions:

None

Deadline for Implementation:

December 16, 2005

Discussion:

Two sample About Us pages have been provided.  

Under other policies and laws, links to FOIA, Information Quality, the Privacy Policy, and USA.Gov are required to be directly on all Major Web Site home pages (defined here) regardless of whether they are also placed on the About Us page.  For completeness, it is recommended that they be provided also on the About Us page (as in variation two).  In addition, the Privacy Policy link must be on all pages which are major points of entry and any page where personally identifiable information is collected.

Revision History:
August 25, 2008: Implemented revisions as approved by WAG.
February 6, 2008: Corrected Formatting.
September 14, 2005: Approved. This policy combines two previously-existing policies with new OMB requirements relating to links, thus creating a single multi-part policy on required links. The two unchanged and incorporated previously-existing policies are: Links to DOC Home Page and Links to Organizational Home Pages