PART 4--DISCLOSURE OF GOVERNMENT INFORMATION
Subpart B--Privacy Act
Sec. 4.23 Procedures for making inquiries.
(a) Any individual, regardless of age,
who is a citizen of the
United States or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent
residence
into the United States may submit an inquiry to the Department.
The
inquiry should be made either in person or by mail addressed
to the
appropriate component identified in Appendix A to this
part or to the
official identified in the notification procedures paragraph
of the
systems of records notice published in the Federal Register.\2\
If an
individual believes the Department maintains a record
pertaining to him
or her but does not know which system of records might
contain such a
record and/or which component of the Department maintains
the system of
records, assistance in person or by mail will be provided
at the first
address listed in Appendix A to this part.
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\2\ The United States Patent and Trademark
Office (USPTO), which
is established as an agency of the United States within
the
Department of Commerce, operates under its own PA regulations
at 37
CFR part 102, subpart B. Accordingly, requests concerning
records
maintained by the USPTO should be sent directly to the
USPTO.
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(b) Inquiries submitted by mail should
include the words ``PRIVACY
ACT INQUIRY'' in capital letters at the top of the letter
and on the
face of the envelope. If the inquiry is for general information
regarding the Act and this subpart, no particular information
is
required. The Department reserves the right to require
compliance with
the identification procedures appearing at Sec. 4.24(d).
If the inquiry
is a request that the Department determine whether it
has a record
pertaining to the individual, the following information
should be
submitted:
(1) Name of individual whose record
is sought;
(2) Statement that individual whose
record is sought is either a
U.S. citizen or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent
residence;
(3) Identifying data that will help
locate the record (for example,
maiden name, occupational license number, period or place
of
employment, etc.);
(4) Record sought, by description
and by record system name, if
known;
(5) Action requested (that is, sending
information on how to
exercise rights under the Act; determining whether requested
record
exists; gaining access to requested record; or obtaining
copy of
requested record);
(6) Copy of court guardianship order
or minor's birth certificate,
as provided in Sec. 4.24(d)(3), but only if requester
is guardian or
parent of individual whose record is sought;
(7) Requester's name (printed), signature,
address, and (optional)
telephone number;
(8) Date; and,
(9) Certification of request by notary
or other official, but only
if
(i) Request is for notification that
requested record exists, for
access to requested record, or for copy of requested
record;
(ii) Record is not available to any
person under 5 U.S.C. 552; and
(iii) Requester does not appear before
an employee of the
Department for verification of identity.
(c) Any inquiry which is not addressed
as specified in paragraph
(a) of this section or which is not marked as specified
in paragraph
(b) of this section will be so addressed and marked by
Department
personnel and forwarded immediately to the responsible
Privacy Officer.
An inquiry which is not properly addressed by the individual
will not
be deemed to have been ``received'' for purposes of measuring
the time
period for response until actual receipt by the Privacy
Officer. In
each instance when an inquiry so forwarded is received,
the Privacy
Officer shall notify the individual that his or her inquiry
was
improperly addressed and the date the inquiry was received
at the
proper address.
(d)(1) Each inquiry received shall
be acted upon promptly by the
responsible Privacy Officer. Every effort will be made
to respond
within ten working days (i.e., excluding Saturdays, Sundays
and legal
public holidays) of the date of receipt at the proper
address. If a
response cannot be made within ten working days, the
Privacy Officer
shall send an acknowledgment during that period providing
information
on the status of the inquiry and asking for such further
information as
may be necessary to process the inquiry. The first correspondence
sent
by the Privacy Officer to the requester shall contain
the Department's
control number assigned to the request, as well as a
statement that the
requester should use that number in all future contacts
with the
Department. The Department shall use that control number
in all
subsequent correspondence.
(2) If the Privacy Officer fails to
send an acknowledgment within
ten working days, as provided in paragraph (d)(1) of
this section,
requester may ask the Assistant General Counsel
for Administration to take
take corrective action. No failure of a Privacy
Officer to send an
acknowledgment shall confer administrative finality for
purposes of judicial review.
(e) An individual shall not be required
to state a reason for or
otherwise justify his or her inquiry.
(f) Special note should be taken that
certain agencies are
responsible for publishing notices of systems of records
having
Government-wide application to other agencies, including
the
Department. The agencies known to be publishing these
general notices
and the types of records covered therein appear in Appendix
C to this
part. These general notices do not identify the Privacy
Officers in the
Department to whom inquiries should be presented or mailed.
The
provisions of this section, and particularly paragraph
(a) of this
section, should be followed in making inquiries with
respect to such
records. Such records in the Department are subject to
the provisions
of this part to the extent indicated in Appendix C to
this part. The
exemptions, if any, determined by the agency publishing
a general
notice shall be invoked and applied by the Department
after
consultation, as necessary, with that other agency.