§ 505.10 - Use and establishment of exemptions.

§ 505.10 Use and establishment of exemptions.

(a) Three types of exemptions.

(1) There are three types of exemptions applicable to an individual's right to access permitted by the Privacy Act. They are the Special, General, and Specific exemptions.

(2) Special exemption (d)(5) - Relieves systems of records from the access provision of the Privacy Act only. This exemption applies to information compiled in reasonable anticipation of a civil action or proceeding.

(3) General exemption (j)(2) - Relieves systems of records from most requirements of the Act. Only Army activities actually engaged in the enforcement of criminal laws as their primary function may claim this exemption.

(4) Specific exemptions (k)(1) - (k)(7)-Relieves systems of records from only a few provisions of the Act.

(5) To find out if an exemption is available for a particular record, refer to the applicable system of records notices. System of records notices will state which exemptions apply to a particular type of record. System of records notices that are applicable to the Army are contained in DA Pam 25-51 (available at the Army Publishing Directorate Web site http://www.usapa.army.mil/), the Defense Privacy Office's Web site http://www.defenselink.mil/privacy/), or in this section). Some of the system of records notices apply only to the Army and the DOD and some notices are applicable government-wide.

(6) Descriptions of current exemptions are listed in detail at appendix C of this part.

(b) Exemption procedures.

(1) For the General and Specific exemptions to be applicable to the Army, the Secretary of the Army must promulgate exemption rules to implement them. This requirement is not applicable to the one Special exemption which is self-executing. Once an exemption is made applicable to the Army through the exemption rules, it will be listed in the applicable system of records notices to give notice of which specific types of records the exemption applies to. When a system manager seeks to have an exemption applied to a certain Privacy Act system of records that is not currently provided for by an existing system of records notice, the following information will be furnished to the DA FOIA/P Office -

(i) Applicable system of records notice;

(ii) Exemption sought; and

(iii) Justification.

(2) After appropriate staffing and approval by the Secretary of the Army and the Defense Privacy Office, it will be published in the Federal Register as a proposed rule, followed by a final rule 60 days later. No exemption may be invoked until these steps have been completed.