20 C.F.R. Subpart A—General
Title 20 - Employees' Benefits
(a) General. The purpose of this part is to describe the Social Security Administration (SSA) policies and procedures for implementing the requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. 552a and section 1106 of the Social Security Act concerning disclosure of information about individuals, both with and without their consent. This part also complies with other applicable statutes. (b) Privacy. This part implements the Privacy Act by establishing agency policies and procedures for the maintenance of records. This part also establishes agency policies and procedures under which you can ask us whether we maintain records about you or obtain access to your records. Additionally, this part establishes policies and procedures under which you may seek to have your record corrected or amended if you believe that your record is not accurate, timely, complete, or relevant. (c) Disclosure. This part also sets out the general guidelines which we follow in deciding whether to make disclosures. However, we must examine the facts of each case separately to decide if we should disclose the information or keep it confidential. (a) SSA. All SSA employees and components are governed by this part. SSA employees governed by this part include all regular and special government employees of SSA; experts and consultants whose temporary (not in excess of 1 year) or intermittent services have been procured by SSA by contract pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 3109; volunteers where acceptance of their services are authorized by law; those individuals performing gratuitous services as permitted under conditions prescribed by the Office of Personnel Management; and, participants in work-study or training programs. (b) Other entities. This part also applies to advisory committees and councils within the meaning of the Federal Advisory Committee Act which provide advice to: Any official or component of SSA; or the President and for which SSA has been delegated responsibility for providing services. The regulations in this part do not— (a) Make available to an individual records which are not retrieved by that individual's name or other personal identifier. (b) Make available to the general public records which are retrieved by an individual's name or other personal identifier or make available to the general public records which would otherwise not be available to the general public under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552, and part 402 of this title. (c) Govern the maintenance or disclosure of, notification about or access to, records in the possession of SSA which are subject to the regulations of another agency, such as personnel records which are part of a system of records administered by the Office of Personnel Management. (d) Apply to grantees, including State and local governments or subdivisions thereof, administering federally funded programs. (e) Make available records compiled by SSA in reasonable anticipation of court litigation or formal administrative proceedings. The availability of such records to the general public or to any subject individual or party to such litigation or proceedings shall be governed by applicable constitutional principles, rules of discovery, and applicable regulations of the agency. (a) Privacy. Sections 401.30 through 401.95, which set out SSA's rules for implementing the Privacy Act, apply to all agency records accessed by an individual's name or personal identifier subject to the Privacy Act. (b) Disclosure—(1) Program records. Regulations that apply to the disclosure of information about an individual contained in SSA's program records are set out in §§401.100 through 401.200 of this part. These regulations also apply to the disclosure of other Federal program information which SSA maintains. That information includes: (i) Health insurance records which SSA maintains for the Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) programs under title XVIII of the Social Security Act. We will disclose these records to HCFA. HCFA may redisclose these records under the regulations applying to records in HCFA's custody; (ii) Black lung benefit records which SSA maintains for the administration of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act; (However, this information is not covered by section 1106 of the Social Security Act.) and (iii) Records kept by consultants. Information retained by a medical, psychological or vocational professional concerning an examination performed under contract in the social security program shall not be disclosed except as permitted by this part. (2) Nonprogram records. Section 401.110 sets out rules applicable to the disclosure of nonprogram records, e.g., SSA's administrative and personnel records. [62 FR 4143, Jan. 29, 1997, as amended at 65 FR 16812, Mar. 30, 2000] Access means making a record available to a subject individual. Act means the Social Security Act. Agency means the Social Security Administration. Commissioner means the Commissioner of Social Security. Disclosure means making a record about an individual available to or releasing it to another party. FOIA means the Freedom of Information Act. Individual when used in connection with the Privacy Act or for disclosure of nonprogram records, means a living person who is a citizen of the United States or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence. It does not include persons such as sole proprietorships, partnerships, or corporations. A business firm which is identified by the name of one or more persons is not an individual. When used in connection with the rules governing program information, individual means a living natural person; this does not include corporations, partnerships, and unincorporated business or professional groups of two or more persons. Information means information about an individual, and includes, but is not limited to, vital statistics; race, sex, or other physical characteristics; earnings information; professional fees paid to an individual and other financial information; benefit data or other claims information; the social security number, employer identification number, or other individual identifier; address; phone number; medical information, including psychological or psychiatric information or lay information used in a medical determination; and information about marital and family relationships and other personal relationships. Maintain means to establish, collect, use, or disseminate when used in connection with the term record; and, to have control over or responsibility for a system of records when used in connection with the term system of records. Notification means communication to an individual whether he is a subject individual. (Subject individual is defined further on in this section.) Program information means personal information and records collected and compiled by SSA in order to discharge its responsibilities under titles I, II, IV part A, X, XI, XIV, XVI and XVIII of the Act and parts B and C of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act. Record means any item, collection, or grouping of information about an individual that is maintained by SSA including, but not limited to, information such as an individual's education, financial transactions, medical history, and criminal or employment history that contains the individual's name, or an identifying number, symbol, or any other means by which an individual can be identified. When used in this part, record means only a record which is in a system of records. Routine use means the disclosure of a record outside SSA, without the consent of the subject individual, for a purpose which is compatible with the purpose for which the record was collected. It includes disclosures required to be made by statutes other than the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552. It does not include disclosures which the Privacy Act otherwise permits without the consent of the subject individual and without regard to whether they are compatible with the purpose for which the information is collected, such as disclosures to the Bureau of the Census, the General Accounting Office, or to Congress. Social Security Administration (SSA) means (1) that Federal agency which has administrative responsibilities under titles, I, II, X, XI, XIV, XVI, and XVIII of the Act; and (2) units of State governments which make determinations under agreements made under sections 221 and 1633 of the Act. Social Security program means any program or provision of law which SSA is responsible for administering, including the Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act. This includes our responsibilities under parts B and C of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act. Statistical record means a record maintained for statistical research or reporting purposes only and not maintained to make determinations about a particular subject individual. Subject individual means the person to whom a record pertains. System of records means a group of records under our control from which information about an individual is retrieved by the name of the individual or by an identifying number, symbol, or other identifying particular. Single records or groups of records which are not retrieved by a personal identifier are not part of a system of records. Papers maintained by individual Agency employees which are prepared, maintained, or discarded at the discretion of the employee and which are not subject to the Federal Records Act, 44 U.S.C. 2901, are not part of a system of records; provided, that such personal papers are not used by the employee or the Agency to determine any rights, benefits, or privileges of individuals. We and our mean the Social Security Administration.
Title 20: Employees' Benefits
PART 401—PRIVACY AND DISCLOSURE OF OFFICIAL RECORDS AND INFORMATION
Subpart A—General
§ 401.5 Purpose of the regulations.
§ 401.10 Applicability.
§ 401.15 Limitations on scope.
§ 401.20 Scope.
§ 401.25 Terms defined.
