§ 5.27 Requests for an accounting of record disclosures.

(a) How made and addressed. Except where accountings of disclosures are not required to be kept (as stated in paragraph (b)(1) of this section), an individual may make a request for an accounting of any disclosure that has been made by the Department to another person, organization, or agency of any record about the requester. This accounting contains the date, nature, and purpose of each disclosure, as well as the name and address of the person, organization, or agency to which the disclosure was made. A request for an accounting should identify each record in question and should be made by writing directly to the Department component that maintains the record, following the procedures in § 5.21. (b) Where accountings are not required. Components are not required to provide accountings to the requester where they relate to: (1) Disclosures for which accountings are, by statute (5 U.S.C. 552a(c)(1)), not required to be kept, such as disclosures that are made to officers and employees within the agency and disclosures that are required to be made under the FOIA, or for records covered by the JRA; (2) Disclosures made to law enforcement agencies for authorized law enforcement activities in response to written requests from those law enforcement agencies specifying the law enforcement activities for which the disclosures are sought; or (3) Disclosures made from systems of records that have been exempted from accounting requirements by a rulemaking pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(j) or (k). (c) Appeals. A requester may appeal a denial of a request for an accounting to the Component Appeals Officer or the DHS Office of the General Counsel or its designee in the same manner as a denial of a request for access to records (see § 5.25) and the same procedures will be followed.