[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: 20CFR402.15]

[Page 25]
 
                      TITLE 20--EMPLOYEES' BENEFITS
 
               CHAPTER III--SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
 
PART 402_AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION AND RECORDS TO THE PUBLIC--Table 
of Contents
 
Sec. 402.15  Relationship between the FOIA and the Privacy Act of 1974.

    (a) Coverage. The FOIA and the rules in this part apply to all SSA 
records. The Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. 552a, applies to records that are 
about individuals, but only if the records are in a system of records. 
``Individuals'' and ``system of records'' are defined in the Privacy Act 
and in 20 CFR 401.25.
    (b) Requesting your own records. If you are an individual and 
request records, then to the extent you are requesting your own records 
in a system of records, we will handle your request under the Privacy 
Act. If there is any record that we need not release to you under those 
provisions, we will also consider your request under the FOIA and this 
rule, and we will release the record to you if the FOIA requires it.
    (c) Requesting another individual's record. Whether or not you are 
an individual, if you request records that are about an individual 
(other than yourself) and that are in a system of records, we will 
handle your request under the FOIA and the rules in this part. However, 
if our disclosure in response to your request would be permitted by the 
Privacy Act's disclosure provision, (5 U.S.C. 552a(b)), for reasons 
other than the requirements of the FOIA, and if we decide to make the 
disclosure, then we will not handle your request under the FOIA and the 
rules in this part. For example, when we make routine use disclosures 
pursuant to requests, we do not handle them under the FOIA and the rules 
in this part. (``Routine use'' is defined in the Privacy Act and in 20 
CFR 401.25.) If we handle your request under the FOIA and the rules in 
this part and the FOIA does not require releasing the record to you, 
then the Privacy Act may prohibit the release and remove our discretion 
to release.