[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 15, Volume 1]
[Revised as of January 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 15CFR4.21]

[Page 41-42]
 
                  TITLE 15--COMMERCE AND FOREIGN TRADE
 
PART 4--DISCLOSURE OF GOVERNMENT INFORMATION--Table of Contents
 
                         Subpart B--Privacy Act
 
Sec. 4.21  Purpose and scope.


    (a) This subpart establishes policies and procedures for 
implementing the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (5 U.S.C. 552a). The 
main objectives of the subpart are to facilitate full exercise of rights 
conferred on individuals under the Act, and to protect the privacy of 
individuals on whom the Department maintains records in systems of 
records under the Act.
    (b) The Department shall act promptly and in accordance with the Act 
upon receipt of any inquiry, request or appeal from a citizen of the 
United States or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence into 
the United States, regardless of the individual's age. Further, the 
Department shall maintain only such information on individuals as is 
relevant and necessary to the performance of its lawful functions; 
maintain that information with such accuracy, relevancy, timeliness, and 
completeness as is reasonably necessary to assure fairness in 
determinations made by the Department about the individual; obtain 
information from the individual to the extent practicable; and take 
every reasonable step to protect that information from unwarranted 
disclosure. The Department shall maintain no record describing how an 
individual exercises rights guaranteed by the First Amendment unless 
expressly authorized to do so by statute or by the individual about whom 
the record is maintained, or unless to do so is pertinent to and within 
the scope of an authorized law enforcement activity. An individual's 
name and address shall not be sold or rented by the Department unless 
such action is specifically authorized by law.
    (c) This subpart applies to all components of the Department. 
Components may promulgate supplementary orders and rules not 
inconsistent with this subpart.
    (d) The Assistant Secretary for Administration is delegated 
responsibility for maintaining this subpart, for issuing such orders and 
directives internal to the Department as are necessary for full 
compliance with the Act, and for publishing all required notices 
concerning systems of records.
    (e) Matters outside the scope of this subpart include:
    (1) Requests for records that do not pertain to the requester, or to 
the individual about whom the request is made if the requester is the 
parent or guardian of the individual;
    (2) Requests involving information pertaining to an individual that 
is in a record or file but not within the scope of a system of records 
notice published in the Federal Register;
    (3) Requests to correct a record if a grievance procedure is 
available to the individual either by regulation or

[[Page 42]]

through a provision in a collective bargaining agreement with the 
Department or a component of the Department, and the individual has 
initiated, or expressed in writing the intention of initiating, such a 
grievance procedure; and
    (4) Requests for employee-employer services and counseling that were 
routinely granted prior to enactment of the Act, including, but not 
limited to, test calculations of retirement benefits, explanations of 
health and life insurance programs, and explanations of tax withholding 
options.
    (f) Any request for records that pertains to the requester, or to 
the individual about whom the request is made if the requester is the 
parent or guardian of the individual, shall be processed under the Act 
and this subpart and under the Freedom of Information Act and the 
Department's implementing regulations at subpart A of this part, 
regardless whether the Act or the Freedom of Information Act is 
mentioned in the request.