Public Comment Deadlines and Guidelines

A limited number of slots for oral comments are available, and in order to ensure that as many different individuals are able to present throughout the year as possible, any given individual only will be permitted to present oral comments once per calendar year (2019). Only one representative of an organization will be allowed to present oral comments in any given meeting; other representatives of the same group may provide written comments. If the oral comment session is full, individuals who could not be accommodated are welcome to provide written comments instead. Comments to be read or presented in the meeting will be assigned a 3-5 minute time slot depending on the number of comments, but a longer version may be submitted in writing for the record. Commenters going beyond their allotted time in the meeting may be asked to conclude immediately in order to allow other comments and presentations to proceed on schedule.

Any interested person may submit written public comments to the IACC prior to the meeting by e-mailing the comments to IACCPublicInquiries@mail.nih.gov or by submitting comments at the link: https://iacc.hhs.gov/meetings/public-comments/submit/index.jsp. The comments should include the name, address, telephone number, and when applicable, the business or professional affiliation of the interested person. NIMH anticipates written public comments received by 5:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, July 16, 2019, will be presented to the Committee prior to the meeting for the Committee’s consideration. Any written comments received after the 5:00 p.m. ET, July 16, 2019 deadline through July 23, 2019, will be provided to the Committee either before or after the meeting, depending on the volume of comments received and the time required to process them in accordance with privacy regulations and other applicable Federal policies. All written public comments and oral public comment statements received by the deadlines for both oral and written public comments will be provided to the IACC for their consideration and will become part of the public record. Attachments of copyrighted publications are not permitted, but web links or citations for any copyrighted works cited may be provided.

Individuals may also submit public comments to the IACC via a Live Feedback Form accessible from the webcast page on the day of the meeting from 9:00 AM EST to 11:30 AM EST. No pre-registration required. The link will be accessible on the NIH Videocast website at https://videocast.nih.gov/ and instructions are available on the IACC website: https://iacc.hhs.gov/meetings/iacc-meetings/live-feedback.shtml. This format is best suited for brief questions and comments for the committee. Submissions will be provided to the IACC and will become a part of the public record.