The Privacy Act of 1974

The Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. 552a, provides safeguards against invasion of personal privacy through the misuse of records by Federal Agencies.

Privacy Act Requests

A Privacy Act request allows individuals to gain access to their own personal records (unless the requested records are exempted from disclosure), and to seek correction or amendment of federally maintained records that are inaccurate, incomplete, untimely. Privacy Act requests made to the Department of Commerce allows individuals to gain access to records about yourself, and are filed and can be retrieved by your name or personal identifier (Ex. Social Security number).

Request records under the Freedom of Information Act

Electronic FOIA Library

FOIA amendments signed into law in 1994 added a requirement that agencies must establish an Electronic FOIA (EFOIA) Library. The Library contains such materials as certain agency manuals, specific agency policy statements, and opinions developed in the adjudication of cases. The information you are requesting may be located in our EFOIA Library. Please check the Library before submitting a FOIA request.

FOIA Reports

All agencies are required by law to report to the Department of Justice on their FOIA compliance through submission of Annual FOIA Reports and Chief FOIA Officer Reports. All agencies are also required to provide quarterly reporting of four key FOIA statistics to the Department of Justice that will be posted on FOIA.gov.

Resources

Available FOIA-related information, such as the Department of Commerce FOIA regulations.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)