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The Human Subjects Division's (HSD) has made the determination under which circumstances the research use of publicly available data sets does not involve "human subjects", and therefore does not require review and approval by the UW Institutional Review Board (IRB).

The basis of this determination is that these data do not meet the federal regulatory definitions of "human subject", because they are neither "identifiable" nor "private." Research involving only the analysis of data from the public data sets identified in the Policy (#329) does not require UW IRB approval or certification of exemption from UW IRB review.