PART 4--DISCLOSURE OF GOVERNMENT INFORMATION

Subpart B--Privacy Act

Sec. 4.28  Agency review of requests for correction or amendment.

    (a)(1)(i) Not later than ten working days (i.e., excluding
Saturdays, Sundays and legal public holidays) after receipt of a
request to correct or amend a record, the Privacy Officer shall send an
acknowledgment providing an estimate of time within which action will
be taken on the request and asking for such further information as may
be necessary to process the request. The estimate of time may take into
account unusual circumstances as described in Sec. 4.25(a). No
acknowledgment will be sent if the request can be reviewed, processed
and the individual notified of the results of review (either compliance
or denial) within the ten working days. Requests filed in person will
be acknowledged in writing at the time submitted.
    (ii) If the Privacy Officer fails to send the acknowledgment within
ten working days, as provided in paragraph (a)(1)(i) of this section,
the requester may ask the Assistant General Counsel for Administration
to take corrective action. No failure of a Privacy Officer to send an
acknowledgment shall confer administrative finality for purposes of
judicial review.
    (2) Promptly after acknowledging receipt of a request, or after
receiving such further information as might have been requested, or
after arriving at a decision within the ten working days, the Privacy
Officer shall either:
    (i) Make the requested correction or amendment and advise the
individual in writing of such action, providing either a copy of the
corrected or amended record or, in cases in which a copy cannot be
provided (for example, erasure of information from a record maintained
only in magnetically-recorded computer files), a statement as to the
means by which the correction or amendment was effected; or,
    (ii) Inform the individual in writing that his or her request is
denied and provide the following information:
    (A) The Privacy Officer's name and title or position;
    (B) The date of the denial;

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    (C) The reasons for the denial, including citation to the
appropriate sections of the Act and this subpart; and,
    (D) The procedures for appeal of the denial as set forth in
Sec. 4.29, including the address of the Assistant General Counsel for
Administration.
    (3) The term promptly in this section means within thirty working
days (i.e., excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal public holidays). If
the Privacy Officer cannot make the determination within thirty working
days, the individual will be advised in writing of the reason for the
delay and of the estimated date by which the determination will be
made.
    (b) Whenever an individual's record is corrected or amended
pursuant to a request from that individual, the Privacy Officer shall
notify all persons and agencies to which the corrected or amended
portion of the record had been disclosed prior to its correction or
amendment, if an accounting of such disclosure required by the Act was
made. The notification shall require a recipient agency maintaining the
record to acknowledge receipt of the notification, to correct or amend
the record, and to apprise any agency or person to which it had
disclosed the record of the substance of the correction or amendment.
    (c) The following criteria will be considered by the Privacy
Officer in reviewing a request for correction or amendment:
    (1) The sufficiency of the evidence submitted by the individual;
    (2) The factual accuracy of the information to be corrected or
amended;
    (3) The relevance and necessity of the information in terms of the
purpose for which it was collected;
    (4) The timeliness and currency of the information in light of the
purpose for which it was collected;
    (5) The completeness of the information in terms of the purpose for
which it was collected;
    (6) The degree of risk that denial of the request could unfairly
result in determinations adverse to the individual;
    (7) The character of the record sought to be corrected or amended;
and,
    (8) The propriety and feasibility of complying with the specific
means of correction or amendment requested by the individual.
    (d) The Department will not undertake to gather evidence for the
individual, but does reserve the right to verify the evidence the
individual submits.
    (e) Correction or amendment of a record requested by an individual
will be denied only upon a determination by the Privacy Officer that:
    (1) The individual has failed to establish, by a preponderance of
the evidence, the propriety of the correction or amendment in light of
the criteria set forth in paragraph (c) of this section;
    (2) The record sought to be corrected or amended is part of the
official record in a terminated judicial, quasi-judicial or quasi-
legislative proceeding to which the individual was a party or
participant;
    (3) The information in the record sought to be corrected or
amended, or the record sought to be corrected or amended, is the
subject of a pending judicial, quasi-judicial or quasi-legislative
proceeding to which the individual is a party or participant;
    (4) The correction or amendment would violate a duly enacted
statute or promulgated regulation; or,
    (5) The individual unreasonably has failed to comply with the
procedural requirements of this part.
    (f) If a request is partially granted and partially denied, the
Privacy Officer shall follow the appropriate procedures of this section
as to the records within the grant and the records within the denial.