{"id":44269,"date":"2022-10-27T09:11:12","date_gmt":"2022-10-27T16:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/?page_id=44269"},"modified":"2025-11-19T13:19:52","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T21:19:52","slug":"info-sheet","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/hsd\/guidance\/coc\/info-sheet\/","title":{"rendered":"INFORMATION SHEET Certificate of Confidentiality"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"WP-PrintIcon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-print\/images\/printer_famfamfam.gif\"  alt=\"Print\" title=\"Print\" style=\"border: 2px;\">&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/hsd\/guidance\/coc\/info-sheet\/print\/\" title=\"Print\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Print<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Purpose and Applicability<\/h2>\n<p><strong>A federal Certificate of Confidentiality (CoC)<\/strong> protects <em>sensitive identifiable information<\/em> collected as part of a study and can be used to refuse to disclose study information.<\/p>\n<p><strong>This information sheet lists key facts and responsibilities for researchers<\/strong> who have a CoC for their study. More details can be found in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/hsd\/guidance\/coc\/\">GUIDANCE Certificate of Confidentiality<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Researcher responsibilities<\/h2>\n<h3>Disclosure and sharing of information\/biospecimens<\/h3>\n<ul style=\"line-height: 2;\">\n<li>Do not disclose or provide information\/biospecimens that contain identifiable information about the subjects <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/hsd\/guidance\/coc\/#2f\">except under limited circumstances<\/a><\/li>\n<li>If information\/biospecimens are shared with other individuals\/institutions\/repositories, ensure they understand that CoC protections continue to apply to the information\/biospecimens they reveive<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Responding to requests for access to CoC-protected information\/biospecimens<\/h3>\n<ul style=\"line-height: 2;\">\n<li>Inform the department advisor or chair <strong> &#8211; and\/or &#8211; <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Inform the relevant institutional office (e.g., UW Public Records Office and WA Attorney General&#8217;s Office)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Mandatory reporting requirements<\/h3>\n<ul style=\"line-height: 2;\">\n<li>A CoC does not prevent researchers from complying with any state or local mandatory reporting laws that apply (e.g., UW researchers must report child abuse)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>CoC protections<\/h2>\n<ul style=\"line-height: 2;\">\n<li>All information\/biospecimens collected under an <strong>active CoC are permanently protected<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Information\/biospecimens collected <strong>prior to obtaining a CoC are permanently protected<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Information\/biospecimens collected <strong>after a CoC expires are not protected<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Extending an expiration date or amending a CoC<\/h2>\n<ul style=\"line-height: 2;\">\n<li>The IRB can assist researchers in determining whether an extension of an expiring CoC is needed<\/li>\n<li>Significant project changes, such as a new subject population, new PI, or collection of new sensitive identifiable information may require a CoC amendment<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>CoCs and research consent<\/h2>\n<ul style=\"line-height: 2;\">\n<li>Subjects must be informed about the CoC protections and limitations as part of any research consent process. Review the guidance on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/hsd\/guidance\/consent\/design\/#coc\">Designing the Consent Process<\/a> for HSD&#8217;s suggested language<\/li>\n<li>If a CoC expires and will not be extended while enrollment is ongoing, the CoC language must be removed from the consent process\/form<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Automatic CoC<\/h2>\n<p>Some federal agencies <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/hsd\/guidance\/coc\/#2c\">automatically issue CoCs as a term of the grant or contact<\/a>. If your study has an automatic CoC, note the following:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"line-height: 2;\">\n<li>Automatic CoCs expire when the funding expires<\/li>\n<li>If you need to extend or modify the CoC, refer to the appropriate agency website for details<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Applied for CoC<\/h2>\n<p>Some federal agencies have a process by which a researcher can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/hsd\/guidance\/coc\/#2d\"> apply for a CoC<\/a>, even without active funding from the agency. The process differs depending on the agency. Most commonly, CoCs may be obtained by applying to the NIH. The information below is specific to NIH CoCs obtained through the application process:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"line-height: 2;\">\n<li>CoCs granted <em>prior to 01\/12\/2021<\/em> list the expiration date<\/li>\n<li>CoCs granted <em>on or after 01\/12\/2021<\/em> expire when collection or use of sensitive identifiable information ends (i.e., the end of the study)<\/li>\n<li>If you need to extend or modify the CoC, visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/grants.nih.gov\/policy\/humansubjects\/coc\/NIH-funded-Research.htm\">NIH CoC webpage<\/a> for instructions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 id=\"5\">Version History<\/h3>\n<p>Open the accordion below for version changes to this guidance.<\/p>\n<div class=\"accordion \" id=\"accordion\">\n<div class=\"screen-reader-text\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"card\">\n<div class=\"card-header\" id=\"accordion-header\">\n<h3 class=\"mb-0\"><button class=\"btn btn-link\" type=\"button\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" data-target=\"#collapse\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"collapse\"><span class=\"btn-text\">Version History<\/span><span class=\"arrow-box\"><span class=\"arrow\"><\/span><\/span><\/button><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"collapse\" class=\"collapse \" aria-labelledby=\"collapse\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" role=\"region\">\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th style=\"background-color: #4b2e83; color: #ffffff; text-align: center;\">Version Number<\/th>\n<th style=\"background-color: #4b2e83; color: #ffffff; text-align: center;\">Posted Date<\/th>\n<th style=\"background-color: #4b2e83; color: #ffffff; text-align: center;\">Implementation Date<\/th>\n<th style=\"background-color: #4b2e83; color: #ffffff; text-align: center;\">Change Notes<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2.1<\/td>\n<td>11.30.2022<\/td>\n<td>11.30.2022<\/td>\n<td>Add that CoC protections apply to data placed in repositories<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2.0<\/td>\n<td>10.27.2022<\/td>\n<td>10.27.2022<\/td>\n<td>Revise and transfer content from ACKNOWLEDGEMENT CoC to new webpage; change taxonomy to INFO SHEET; reorganize information<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1.6<\/td>\n<td>11.08.2019<\/td>\n<td>11.08.2019<\/td>\n<td>Revised language throughout for multi-site and collaborative research; added advisory language regarding CoC consent statement at funding expiration<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1.5<\/td>\n<td>08.28.2019<\/td>\n<td>08.28.2019<\/td>\n<td>Inserted the missing flow chart; corrected info about expiration and modification for auto-CoCs to align with NIH website<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1.4<\/td>\n<td>11.30.2018<\/td>\n<td>11.30.2018<\/td>\n<td>Add CDC to list of funders with auto-CoCs<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Previous versions<\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<td>For older versions: HSD staff see the SharePoint Document Library; Others \u2013 contact hsdinfo@uw.edu.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Keywords<\/strong>: CoC and privacy certificate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Purpose and Applicability A federal Certificate of Confidentiality (CoC) protects sensitive identifiable information collected as part of a study and can be used to refuse to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":158,"featured_media":0,"parent":44264,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"templates\/page-builder-units-small-hero.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-44269","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>INFORMATION SHEET Certificate of Confidentiality - UW Research<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/hsd\/guidance\/coc\/info-sheet\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"INFORMATION SHEET Certificate of Confidentiality - UW Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Purpose and Applicability A federal Certificate of Confidentiality (CoC) protects sensitive identifiable information collected as part of a study and can be used to refuse to...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/hsd\/guidance\/coc\/info-sheet\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UW Research\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-19T21:19:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/hsd\/guidance\/coc\/info-sheet\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/hsd\/guidance\/coc\/info-sheet\/\",\"name\":\"INFORMATION SHEET Certificate of Confidentiality - UW Research\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-27T16:11:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-19T21:19:52+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/hsd\/guidance\/coc\/info-sheet\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/hsd\/guidance\/coc\/info-sheet\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/hsd\/guidance\/coc\/info-sheet\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Human Subjects Division\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/hsd\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Topic-Based Guidance\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/hsd\/guidance\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Certificate of Confidentiality (CoC)\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/hsd\/guidance\/coc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":5,\"name\":\"INFORMATION SHEET Certificate of Confidentiality\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/\",\"name\":\"UW Research\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"INFORMATION SHEET Certificate of Confidentiality - UW Research","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/hsd\/guidance\/coc\/info-sheet\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"INFORMATION SHEET Certificate of Confidentiality - UW Research","og_description":"Purpose and Applicability A federal Certificate of Confidentiality (CoC) protects sensitive identifiable information collected as part of a study and can be used to refuse to...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/hsd\/guidance\/coc\/info-sheet\/","og_site_name":"UW Research","article_modified_time":"2025-11-19T21:19:52+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/hsd\/guidance\/coc\/info-sheet\/","url":"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/hsd\/guidance\/coc\/info-sheet\/","name":"INFORMATION SHEET Certificate of Confidentiality - UW Research","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-10-27T16:11:12+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-19T21:19:52+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/hsd\/guidance\/coc\/info-sheet\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/hsd\/guidance\/coc\/info-sheet\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/hsd\/guidance\/coc\/info-sheet\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Human Subjects Division","item":"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/hsd\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Topic-Based Guidance","item":"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/hsd\/guidance\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Certificate of Confidentiality (CoC)","item":"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/hsd\/guidance\/coc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"name":"INFORMATION SHEET Certificate of Confidentiality"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/","name":"UW Research","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/44269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/158"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44269"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/44269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60573,"href":"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/44269\/revisions\/60573"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/44264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.washington.edu\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}