Oct. 1 is when the new policy pertaining to NIH’s issuance of certificates of confidentiality (CoC) takes effect, according to a recent NIH Blog post. Under the new policy, CoCs “will be issued automatically to NIH funded grants, cooperative agreements, contracts and intramural research projects research funded wholly or in part by the NIH that collects or uses identifiable, sensitive information,” per the blog item. That means that investigators on NIH-funded studies will not have to submit a separate application for a CoC; nor will they receive an actual certificate. Even better, “all research that was commenced or ongoing on or after December 13, 2016 and is within the scope of this policy is issued a Certificate through this policy.
Please click on the above link for more information. You can also check out the official notice of the change here.