Privacy Act Issuances

Privacy Act Issuances, 1995 to Present

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About Privacy Act Issuances

What are Privacy Act Issuances?

Privacy Act Issuances (The Privacy Act Compilation) are compiled and published by the National Archives’ Office of the Federal Register (OFR) biennially, as directed by the Pricacy Act of 1974. It consists of:

Descriptions of systems of records maintained on individuals by Federal agencies and agency recordkeeping policies and practices as published in the Federal Register; and
Agency rules of procedure for individuals requesting information about their records, as codified in the Code of Federal Regulations.

For questions about the Privacy Act Compilation, please call, 202-741-6050 or email, [email protected], OFR's Daily Issue unit.

What is available?

govinfo contains Privacy Act Issuances from 1995 forward.
Bulk data downloads of Privacy Act Issuance XML files are available to the general public via Data.gov and GPO’s Bulk Data Repository.
Published biennially, the compliation reflects rules and notices of systems of record published in the Federal Register on or before December 31st of that compilation's year.
Privacy Act Issuances are available as ASCII text or XML format.

Searching Privacy Act Issuances

You can locate Privacy Act Issuances by:

Using the Basic Search for keyword and metadata fielded searches (see Metadata Fields and Values section),
Using the Advanced Search; fields specific to the PAI will display after you select Privacy Act Issuances in the Refine by Collection column,
Narrowing search results by clicking on links in the Refine Your Search panel on the left hand side of the page (the sections under Refine Your Search correspond to the metadata available for the documents), and
Browsing on the Privacy Act Issuances browse page.

General govinfo Search Tips

Important: Only the most recent edition is searchable using Basic Search unless you specify iscurrent:false or iscurrent:all in your search criteria. All editions are searchable when using Advanced Search. Learn more about what's included in search results.

Search Examples

Search for Privacy Act Issuances by Keyword - These examples will search for Privacy Act Issuances documents containing the word defense in the full text or metadata.

Using Basic Search, enter: collection:pai and defense
Using Advanced Search,
- Select Privacy Act Issuances under Refine by Collection, then under Search In select Full Text in the first box and enter defensein the second box.

Search for Privacy Act Issuances by Agency - These examples will search for Privacy Act Issuances documents from Veterans Affairs.

Using Basic Search, enter: collection:pai agency:"veterans affairs"
Using Advanced Search,
- Select Privacy Act Issuances under Refine by Collection, then under Search In select Agency in the first box and enter "veterans affairs" in the second box.

Sample Privacy Act Issuances URLs

govinfo uses one key piece of information to construct predictable URLs to documents and Details pages:

Package ID is used to identify the specific agency for the year.

Identifier	Structure/Metadata Field	Example
Package ID	PAI-{Year}-{Agency File Abbreviation}	PAI-2015-FMC

Details Page for an Entire Issue
Structure: https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/{Package ID}
Example: https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/PAI-2015-FMC

XML File for an Entire Issue
Structure: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/{Package ID}/pdf/{Package ID}.pdf
Example: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PAI-2015-FMC/xml/PAI-2015-FMC.xml

HTML File for an Entire Issue
Structure: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/{Package ID}/html/{Package ID}.htm
Example: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PAI-2003-FMC/html/PAI-2003-FMC.html

Privacy Act Issuances Metadata Fields and Values

Metadata fields and values can be used to increase the relevancy of your searches. Metadata fields and values are used throughout govinfo for:

Refining Your Search,
Browsing Government Publications,
Field Operators,
Advanced Search, and
Display on Details pages.

Metadata fields and values can be entered into the Basic Search box using field operators. The metadata fields and values available for Privacy Act Issuances are listed in the table below, along with examples for each metadata field. Using Field Operators

Some of the metadata fields are made available for use in Advanced Search. The metadata values can be entered in the same format for the fields available on the Advanced Search Page. Using Advanced Search

Metadata Field Display Name	Metadata Field Definition	Field Operator	Field Operator Example
Collection	The collection to which the document belongs. Typically the same as the publication or series.	collection:	collection:pai
Government Author	The names of the Government organizations responsible for authoring or assembling the document.	governmentauthor:	governmentauthor:"federal register office"
Publication Date	The date the document was first made available to the public.	publishdate:	publishdate:2015 Note: Date format is YYYY-MM-DD
Language	The language code of the original document, from the ISO639-2b standard.	language:	language:eng
Former Package ID	The document ID of the "package" as originally specified on GPO Access	mods:identifier:(@type:"former package identifier":______)	mods:identifier:(@type:"former package identifier":"f:2005-tva.wais")
SuDoc Class Number	The SuDoc class number from the U.S. Superintendent of Documents which classifies Government publications by publishing agency.	sudocclass:	sudocclass:"AE 2.106/4:" Note: The SuDoc Class Numbers in govinfo may be at the class stem level, not the book number level.
Ingestion Date	The date the document was ingested into the preservation repository.	ingestdate:	ingestdate:2016-02-12 Note: Date format is YYYY-MM-DD
Electronic Location (URL)	The URL where the document or the document in context (the content detail page) is located.	url:	url:"url:"/pkg/PAI-2015-SSA/xml/PAI-2015-SSA.xml"
Publisher	The government organization who publishes the document or publication. Not typically the Government Publishing Office (who serves as the printer and distributor), except in the case of Congressional publications.	publisher:	publisher:"Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration"
Branch	The branch of Government responsible for the document's contents.	branch:	branch:executive Possible Values: Executive, Legislative, Judicial
Type of Resource	The media type for the document, typically "text". Defined as part of the Library of Congress MODS standard.	typeofresource:	typeofresource:text
WAIS Database Name	The name of the WAIS database to which the document belonged in the former GPO Access system.	waisdbname:	waisdbname:1999_privacy_act
Record Origin	How the record was originally generated. Typically "machine generated."	recordorigin:	recordorigin:"machine generated"
Title	The title of the publication.	title:	title:"Privacy Act Issuance for the Federal Maritime Commission"
Agency	The full name of the Federal Agency or sub-agency responsible for the Privacy Act Issuance.	agency:	agency:"Social Security Administration"
Citation	The GPO standard method for searching citation references from the selected publication.	citation:	citation:"PAI:NARA"
United States Code Citation	Citation references to the United States Code.	uscodecitation:	uscodecitation:"44 U.S.C. 2104"
CFR Citation	Citation references to the Code of Federal Regulations.	cfrcitation:	cfrcitation:"36 CFR part 1121"
Reference Citation	Reference to another document within the text of a document.	refcitation:	refcitation:"44 U.S.C. 3101"

Privacy Act Issuances Related Resources

Federal Register - Access the most recent updates to systems of records notices or Privacy Act regulations.
Electronic Code of Federal Regulations - Access Privacy Act regulations.
Privacy Act of 1974 - 5 U.S.C. 552a
Contact your local Federal Depository Library
Purchase Privacy Act related documents - From GPO's Online Bookstore.

Privacy Act Issuances Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Privacy Act?

The Privacy Act safeguards against Federal agencies’ misuse of records and unwarranted invasions of privacy by:

Restricting disclosure of personally identifiable records maintained by agencies;
Granting individuals increased rights of access to records maintained about them;
Granting individuals the right to seek amendment of records maintained about them upon a showing that the records are not accurate, relevant, timely or complete; and
Establishing a code of "fair information practices" which requires agencies to comply with statutory norms for collection, maintenance, use and dissemination of records.

Are there limitations to the kind of information you can request from an agency?

There are limitations to the kind of information you can receive. An agency may refuse to provide information that:

Relates to national security;
Could reveal a confidential source; or
Could be used to give people an unfair advantage on a government examination.

Generally, an agency's system notices (description of its systems of records) and its regulations will describe that agency's limitations on release of information.