§ 96.7 Authorities and responsibilities of an accrediting entity.

(a) An accrediting entity may be authorized by the Secretary to perform some or all of the following functions: (1) Determining whether agencies are eligible for accreditation; (2) Determining whether persons are eligible for approval; (3) Overseeing accredited agencies and/or approved persons by monitoring their compliance with applicable requirements; (4) Reviewing and responding to complaints about accredited agencies and approved persons (including their use of supervised providers); (5) Taking adverse action against an accredited agency or approved person, and/or referring an accredited agency or approved person for possible action by the Secretary; (6) Determining whether accredited agencies and approved persons are eligible for renewal of their accreditation or approval on a cycle consistent with § 96.60; (7) Collecting data from accredited agencies and approved persons, maintaining records, and reporting information to the Secretary, State courts, and other entities; and (8) Assisting the Secretary in taking appropriate action to help an agency or person in transferring its intercountry adoption cases and adoption records. (9) Maintaining all records related to its role as an accrediting entity for a period of at least ten years, or longer if otherwise set forth in its agreement with the Secretary. (b) The Secretary may require the accrediting entity: (1) To utilize the Complaint Registry as provided in subpart J of this part; and (2) To fund a portion of the costs of operating the Complaint Registry with fees collected by the accrediting entity pursuant to the schedule of fees approved by the Secretary as provided in § 96.8. (c) An accrediting entity must perform all responsibilities in accordance with the Convention, the IAA, the UAA, the regulations implementing the IAA and the UAA, and its agreement with the Secretary.