[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 20, Volume 2]
[Revised as of April 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 20CFR401.85]

[Page 13-14]
 
                      TITLE 20--EMPLOYEES' BENEFITS
 
               CHAPTER III--SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
 
PART 401_PRIVACY AND DISCLOSURE OF OFFICIAL RECORDS AND INFORMATION--Table 
of Contents
 
                        Subpart B_The Privacy Act
 
Sec. 401.85  Exempt systems.

    (a) General policy. The Privacy Act permits certain types of 
specific systems of records to be exempt from some of its requirements. 
Our policy is to exercise authority to exempt systems of records only in 
compelling cases.
    (b) Specific systems of records exempted. (1) Those systems of 
records listed in paragraph (b)(2) of this section are exempt from the 
following provisions of the Act and this part:
    (i) 5 U.S.C. 552a(c)(3) and paragraph (c) of Sec. 401.80 of this 
part which require that you be granted access to an accounting of 
disclosures of your record.
    (ii) 5 U.S.C. 552a (d) (1) through (4) and (f) and Sec. Sec. 401.35 
through 401.75 relating to notification of or access to records and 
correction or amendment of records.
    (iii) 5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(4) (G) and (H) which require that we include 
information about SSA procedures for notification, access, and 
correction or amendment of records in the notice for the systems of 
records.
    (iv) 5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(3) and Sec. 401.30 which require that if we 
ask you to provide a record to us, we must inform you of the authority 
for our asking you to provide the record (including whether providing 
the record is mandatory or voluntary, the principal purposes for 
maintaining the record, the routine uses for the record, and what effect 
your refusal to provide the record may have on you), and if you are not 
required by statute or Executive Order to provide the record, that you 
agree to provide the record. This exemption applies only to an 
investigatory record compiled by SSA for criminal law enforcement 
purposes in a system of records exempt under subsection (j)(2) of the 
Privacy Act to the extent that these requirements would prejudice the 
conduct of the investigation.
    (2) The following systems of records are exempt from those 
provisions of the Privacy Act and this part listed in paragraph (b)(1) 
of this section:
    (i) Pursuant to subsection (j)(2) of the Privacy Act, the 
Investigatory Material Compiled for Law Enforcement Purposes System, 
SSA.
    (ii) Pursuant to subsection (k)(2) of the Privacy Act:
    (A) The General Criminal Investigation Files, SSA;
    (B) The Criminal Investigations File, SSA; and,
    (C) The Program Integrity Case Files, SSA.
    (D) Civil and Administrative Investigative Files of the Inspector 
General, SSA/OIG.
    (E) Complaint Files and Log. SSA/OGC.
    (iii) Pursuant to subsection (k)(5) of the Privacy Act:

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    (A) The Investigatory Material Compiled for Security and Suitability 
Purposes System, SSA; and,
    (B) The Suitability for Employment Records, SSA.
    (iv) Pursuant to subsection (k)(6) of the Privacy Act, the Personnel 
Research and Merit Promotion Test Records, SSA/DCHR/OPE.
    (c) Notification of or access to records in exempt systems of 
records. (1) Where a system of records is exempt as provided in 
paragraph (b) of this section, you may nonetheless request notification 
of or access to a record in that system. You should make requests for 
notification of or access to a record in an exempt system of records in 
accordance with the procedures of Sec. Sec. 401.35 through 401.55.
    (2) We will grant you notification of or access to a record in an 
exempt system but only to the extent such notification or access would 
not reveal the identity of a source who furnished the record to us under 
an express promise, and prior to September 27, 1975, an implied promise, 
that his or her identity would be held in confidence, if:
    (i) The record is in a system of records which is exempt under 
subsection (k)(2) of the Privacy Act and you have been, as a result of 
the maintenance of the record, denied a right, privilege, or benefit to 
which you would otherwise be eligible; or,
    (ii) The record is in a system of records which is exempt under 
subsection (k)(5) of the Privacy Act.
    (3) If we do not grant you notification of or access to a record in 
a system of records exempt under subsections (k) (2) and (5) of the 
Privacy Act in accordance with this paragraph, we will inform you that 
the identity of a confidential source would be revealed if we granted 
you notification of or access to the record.
    (d) Discretionary actions by SSA. Unless disclosure of a record to 
the general public is otherwise prohibited by law, we may at our 
discretion grant notification of or access to a record in a system of 
records which is exempt under paragraph (b) of this section. 
Discretionary notification of or access to a record in accordance with 
this paragraph will not be a precedent for discretionary notification of 
or access to a similar or related record and will not obligate us to 
exercise discretion to grant notification of or access to any other 
record in a system of records which is exempt under paragraph (b) of 
this section.