§ 501.7 - Agency review of requests for amendment or correction of a record.

§ 501.7 Agency review of requests for amendment or correction of a record.

(a) Where possible, each request for amendment or correction shall be reviewed, and a determination on the request made, by the Privacy Officer within 10 days of receipt (excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays). Requests shall be acknowledged within that period where insufficient information has been provided to enable action to be taken. An acknowledgement shall inform the individual making the request of the estimated time within which a disposition of the request is expected to be made, and shall prescribe such further information as may be necessary to process the request. The request shall be granted, or an initial decision to deny shall be made, within ten days of receipt of all information specified in the acknowledgement (excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays).

(b) Within 30 days (excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays) after arriving at a decision on a request, the Privacy Officer shall either:

(1) Make the requested amendment or correction, in whole or in part, and advise the individual in writing of such action; or,

(2) Advise the individual in writing that the request has been initially denied, in whole or in part, stating, with respect to those portions denied;

(i) The date of the denial;

(ii) The reasons for the denial, including a citation to an appropriate section of the Act and these Rules; and,

(iii) The right of the individual to prosecute an appeal and to obtain judicial review should a final denial result from the appeal.

(c) In reviewing a request for amendment or correction of a record, the Privacy Officer shall consider the following criteria:

(1) The sufficiency of the evidence submitted by the individual;

(2) The factual accuracy of the information sought to be amended or corrected;

(3) The relevance and necessity of the information sought to be amended or corrected in terms of the purposes for which it was collected;

(4) The timeliness and currency of the information sought to be amended or corrected in terms of the purposes for which it was collected;

(5) The completeness of the information sought to be amended or corrected in terms of the purposes for which it was collected;

(6) The degree of possibility 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. If an amendment or correction is otherwise permissible under the Act and other relevant statutes, a request shall be denied only if the individual has failed to establish, by a preponderance of the evidence, the propriety of the amendment or correction in light of these criteria.

[40 FR 49276, Oct. 21, 1975, as amended at 41 FR 5, Jan. 2, 1976]